William Royal Sidles 1907-1966

SIDLES, JACKSON, SCHACHERER, COLE, LOFTIS

Posted By: Merllene Andre Bendixen (email)
Date: 3/4/2012 at 21:57:23

W. R. Sidles Dies at 59 at Hospital
William R. Sidles, 59, a former Estherville mayor, councilman, businessman, and banker, died at 6:50 a.m. today at Holy Family Hospital after a seven-year illness from Hodgkins disease.

Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Monday at the Methodist church.

Mr. Sidles was appointed to the city council in November 1945 and served as mayor from 1947 to 1949. He was in the grocery business in Estherville for 29 years and, for the past 10 years, had been associated with the Emmet County State Bank where he was a vice-president at the time of his death.

William Royal Sidles was born Feb. 18, 1907, on a farm near Huntington, the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Sidles. He attended school at Huntington, Emmet Consolidated school, and Estherville High School and Junior College.

He was married Sept. 1, 1930, at Newell to Kathryne Jackson of Bagley.

After completing his schooling he was employed for a time at Howard’s Cut Rate Grocery in Estherville. He purchased Lloyd Crim’s Cut Price Grocery with Luverne Heyer as his partner. Later he bought Mr. Heyer’s interest and operated the store himself for a number of years. Later, for a two year period, he was in partnership with Rollin Edelen.

He remained in the grocery business until 1955 when he sold his store and became manager of the Estherville Council Oaks Store.

The following year, 1956, he joined the Emmet County Bank staff.

He was a member of First Methodist Church of Estherville and held district and conference positions in the church. He was an usher in the church for 20 years, taught Sunday school for 22 years, served on the official board, and was a lay leader in the church.

He had been active in YMCA work, serving on the local board for 23 years. He was Camp Foster district chairman for 10 years.

He was a member of the Knights of Pythias.

Besides serving as mayor and on the council, Mr. Sidles was active in many other civic enterprises. He was a past president of the Chamber of Commerce, had served as county Red Cross chairman, a member of the library board, the zoning board of both Estherville and Emmet County, and was on the original 4–H building committee.

He had been active in Boy Scout work for a number of years. As a member of Emmet County Historical Society and the library board he was instrumental in obtaining microfilm copies of old Estherville newspapers and historical records for those organizations.

He is survived by his wife; 3ne son, Craig of Mt. Vernon; a daughter, Mrs. Jams (Janet) Schacherer of Terril; seven grandchildren; two sisters, Mrs. Albert Cole of Estherville and Mrs. A.J Loftis of Armstrong; and eight brothers, Dewey of Colma, Calif., Elza, Lesley, Earl and Ross of Estherville, John of Jackson, Minn., and James and Lawrence of Emmetsburg.

He was preceded in death by his parents and one brother, Floyd.

Family funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Monday in the Green Room of the Methodist Church. The public service will follow at 2:30 p.m. at the church, Rev. C.R. Buckwalter officiating. Burial will be in East Side Cemetery.

Friends may call at the Reese-Henry Funeral Home after 9 a.m. Sunday until noon on Monday when the body will be taken to the church to lie in state until time of services. The casket will not be opened following the services.

A memorial fund has been established. (Estherville Daily News, Estherville, IA, November 4, 1966)