DeWITT, Donald L.

DEWITT, KISSINGER, KORELL, SWANSON, THAYER, FUHRMAN, NOBLE, WALKER, WARNER

Posted By: Lynette Edsall (email)
Date: 9/12/2006 at 16:12:16

Donald L. DeWitt

WASHTA, Iowa -- Donald L. DeWitt, 87, of Cherokee, Iowa, formerly of Washta, passed away Monday, July 18, 2005, at his residence.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday at Washta United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Gregg Johnson officiating. Burial will be in Sunset View Cemetery. There will be a family prayer service at 10:15 a.m. Friday at the church. Visitation will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday, with the family present 6:30 to 8 p.m., at Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee.

Donald was born June 1, 1918, in Correctionville, Iowa, to Frank and Belle (Kissinger) DeWitt. He attended country schools near Pierson and Correctionville, Iowa. He graduated from Wilson High School in Cherokee in 1934. He attended one year at Lincoln Aeronautical Institute in Lincoln, Neb.

He was married to Marie Korell on May 14, 1941, in Buffalo, N.Y. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II from 1945 to 1946, being discharged as a seaman first class. He had worked as a carpenter and also on the railroad. He worked for the Curtis Wright Co. in Buffalo, N.Y., which built airplanes for the war. He then returned to Cherokee County, Iowa, and farmed for 30 years west of Washta, retiring in 1980. Following his retirement, he moved to Hermitage, Mo., where he lived until August 1999, when they moved back to Cherokee.

He was a member of Washta United Methodist Church, where he served on the building committee for the fellowship hall and also as secretary of the church board. He had served on the Willow School board for several years and was a past president. He served on the Cherokee County Soil Conservation, was a USDA soil commissioner from 1963 to 1980. He enjoyed farming, fishing and being with his family, especially the grandchildren.

He is survived by his wife, Marie; two daughters and their husbands, Cathy and Gerald Swanson of Central City, Neb., and Judy and Don Thayer of Brodhead, Wis.; two sons and their wives, Jim and Jane DeWitt of Washta and Jerry and Nini DeWitt of Simi Valley, Calif.; 13 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and four sisters, Naomi Fuhrman of Ormond Beach, Fla., Alice and her husband, Milo Noble of Cherokee, Patricia Walker of Sedalia, Mo., and Arlene and her husband, Neil Warner of Quimby, Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Ralph and Carroll DeWitt; and a sister, Doris DeWitt.