Cecil Mallo

MALLO, DOUGALL, GERGEN, SMITH, PIERCE, GROVEN, LEE, SORENSON, SKINNER

Posted By: Keith E. Nelson (email)
Date: 6/14/2005 at 18:41:43

Cecil Mallo

MASON CITY - Cecil Mallo, 78, of Mason City died Saturday (Feb. 12, 2005) at his home.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave., with the Rev. Donald L. Simmonds of Trinity Lutheran Church officiating. Interment will be at a later date in Memorial Park Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the Major Erickson Funeral Home.

Memorials may be directed to the Cecil Mallo Memorial Fund.

Cecil Mallo was born Oct. 13, 1925, to Jacob and Myrna (Gardner) Mallo and died Saturday (Feb. 12, 2005) at his home.

He was born and raised in Mason City and married his high school sweetheart, Billie Dougall, on May 12, 1946, at her family home.

As a young man, he worked at Borden Ice Cream Co., Rose Standard Service and Highland Grocery. He then worked at Mason City Sieg Auto, starting in the stock room and retiring as parts manager.

Cecil was an avid hunter and fisherman and spent many hours hunting with his dad, brother and father-in-law.

His son, Jim, joined the group when he was barely big enough to carry a toy gun. The love of this outdoor sport was passed from generation to generation, and he was proud to still be able to pheasant hunt with his son-in-law and grandson, and always enjoyed hearing the "opening day report" even after he had retired his own shotgun.

Billie and Cecil discovered a love of camping after purchasing a camping trailer when their children were very young.

For 26 years, they operated Mallo Trailer Sales and Rentals, exclusively offering Bethany campers manufactured by the Bethany Fellowship Missionary Church.

Through the years, Cecil traveled to nearly all of the United States with his wife and children, parents and father-in-law.

He had a special love of the mountains, pine trees and back roads. Cecil and Billie belonged to the Wigwam & Wagon Campers and helped clear the land for the Margaret MacNider Campground. They later joined the Osage Good Sam Club.

Camping provided them with countless wonderful memories of friendships and experiences, and they joined their camping group as much as Cecil's health would allow. During the past few years, he enjoyed visiting bed and breakfast establishments when traveling. Cecil was also actively involved with the Lutheran Brotherhood.

He looked forward to Wednesdays, when he and Billie would join their classmates for coffee, rolls and conversation.

Then it was home to watch westerns on TV. He knew nearly every story line but never tired of watching them. He loved reading western novels, and had a large collection of Louis L'Amour stories.

He was active with helping keep the class of '43 in touch and planning reunions.

Health problems began in 1981 with his first aneurysm surgery. The following years produced several more aneurysms, with surgeries performed to repair the treatable ones.

He was a man with a gentle soul and quiet patience. His spirit remained strong even though repeated aneurysms weakened his body. He had just returned home from a week in intensive care in Rochester, Minn., and never lost hope for healing.

He was a wonderful husband and a loving father and grandfather. A great joy to him were his three great-grandchildren, two little boys who called him Little Papa, and baby Avery, whose smile and antics would make him laugh out loud.

Cecil is survived by his wife of 58 years, Billie; their children, Pamela (Greg) Gergen of Armstrong, James (Deanna) Mallo of Rockford, and Susan Smith of Mason City; their grandchildren, Kathy (Corey) Pierce of Armstrong, Tim Gergen of San Antonio, Texas, Jamie (Jon) Groven of Rockford, Jacob Mallo (Darci Hillman) of Rockford and Chad Smith of Armstrong; their great-grandchildren, Hunter and Braden Pierce, Avery Groven; his brother, Gene (Doreen) Mallo of Donna, Texas; a very special sister-in-law, Margaret Lee, of Mason City; nephews, David Harthan and Jon Mallo, and nieces, Cindy Sorenson and Linda Skinner.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Ann Marie, his parents, grandparents and mother-in-law and father-in-law.

Major Erickson Funeral Home & Crematory, (641) 423-0924.

Published in the Mason City Globe Gazette on 2/15/2005.