Gearhart, Merle 'Bus' 1921-1991

GEARHART, THOMPSON, BARLOW, NEELY, WARNER, BIRD, LONG, MILLER, KISER, JOHNSTON, DAHLIN, TROGDEN, JOHNSON

Posted By: Sherry Faidley Healy (email)
Date: 6/20/2015 at 13:59:41

Merle “Bus” Gearhart

Merle “Bus” Gearhart, 69, 1312 E. 6th S., a native of Jasper County and longtime resident of Newton, died Tuesday afternoon, March 26, at the Mercy Hospital Medical Center in Des Moines after suffering a heart attack.

Funeral services will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Wallace-Pence Funeral Home.

The Rev. DuWayne Hanke, pastor of the Community Reformed Church, will conduct services and burial will be in the Newton Union Cemetery.

Friends may call after 1 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Family visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

There will be a flag presentation by the Newton Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1655 at the cemetery.

Memorials to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary may be left at the funeral home.
Survivors are his wife, Coleen Thompson Gearhart; a son David Barlow of Manchester; two step-sons, Rex Thompson of Grinnell an Rick Thompson of Newton; a daughter, Peggy Jo (Mrs. Herb) Neely of Geneseo, Ill.; four step-daughters, Judy (Mrs. Keith) Warner of Cedartown, Ga., Sandy (Mrs. Gary) Bird of Newton, Linda (Mrs. Steve) Long of Arlington, Texas, and Rena (Mrs. Clarence) Miller of Newton; 21 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.

Also surviving are four sisters, Dorothy Kiser of Baxter, Betty (Mrs. Donald Johnston of Baxter, Sally (Mrs. Melvin) Dahlin of Newton and Carol (Mrs. Scotty) Trogden of Champaign, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his previous wife, Esther, a brother, Jack, and a son in infancy.

A veteran of World War II who served in Japan, Mr. Gearhart was a longtime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1655 and formerly was a member of the Izaak Walton League.

He was employed in the machining department of the Maytag Co. for 30 years prior to his retirement.

The son of Loren M. and Flossie Johnson Gearhart, he was born April 20, 1921 in Ira and attended Ira and Baxter schools.
-Newton (IA) Daily News March 26, 1991