MACKEY, Jessie "Sterling" 1915-2009

MACKEY, NEWBERRY, ANNIS, KNAPP, HENSEN, GOMES

Posted By: S. Bell
Date: 6/22/2014 at 18:56:54

Sterling Mackey, 94, of Plainfield, Iowa died Wednesday, May 27, 2009, at the Bartels Lutheran Home in Waverly, Iowa. At Sterling’s request, a graveside service will be held at Willow Lawn Cemetery in Plainfield on Saturday, May 30th at 11:00 a.m.

Jessie Sterling Mackey was born March 23, 1915 in Stanwood, Iowa, the son of Homer and Anna Mae Newberry Mackey. He attended school in Stanwood until 1931, when his family moved to nearby Olin, Iowa. Sterling completed high school in Olin, graduating as the class president of the Olin High School Class of 1933. Following graduation, Sterling worked as a mechanic at Taylor Garage in Olin. He enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after the start of World War II, during which he taught airplane engine repair in Amarillo, Texas.

On October 19, 1943, he was united in marriage to Fern Annis at the Little Brown Church in Nashua Iowa. In 1948, Sterling moved to Plainfield, where he owned and operated Mackey’s Garage for nearly 30 years. He closed the shop in order to care for his ailing wife Fern, for whom he cared until her death in 1986. Sterling remained at his home in Plainfield until becoming a resident at Bartels in May of 2009. Sterling enjoyed collecting and working on old musical instruments, playing the accordion and violin, reading, fixing engines, collecting books, and working with flowers and other plants.

Sterling is survived by a daughter Jo (Allen) Knapp of Nashua, a son Stuart (Kate) Mackey of Waverly, two grandsons: Jared Knapp of Waterloo and Nathan (Jayma) Mackey of Waverly; a great granddaughter Kylie Sterling Mackey of Waverly, and a foster sister Marjorie (Robert) Hensen of Lacey, Washington.

Sterling was preceded in death by his parents, his wife Fern in 1986, a sister Dorothy Gomes in 1966, and a brother Robert Dahl Mackey in 1973.

Sterling was a real character who will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

[Hugeback & Chenoweth Funeral Home]