Poling, Kenneth Charles 1914-2003

POLING, WEBSTER, THOMAS, CRISWELL, WHITE, ARMSTRONG, CRIST, BAILEY, CROSIER, ZEITLER, KOHLMYER, DRAKE, DAVIS, POOLE, METCALF, MCINTOSH, DEGELAU, REICK

Posted By: Debbie Nash (email)
Date: 12/15/2003 at 21:08:40

Kenneth Charles Poling
December 15, 2003

Kenneth Charles Poling, 89, of Ottumwa, died Thursday Dec. 11, 2003, at home.

The funeral will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Davis Street Christian Church in Ottumwa, with the Rev. Dan French officiating. Burial will be in Maple Grove Cemetery in Cantril.

Visitation began at 9 a.m. today at Reece Funeral Home in Ottumwa, where the family will be present from 6-8 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Davis Street Christian Church.

He was born Sept. 7, 1914, near Lebanon, the son of Otto Charles and Stella Anna Webster Poling. He married Doris Thomas in 1936. She preceded him in death in 1966. He married Nina Criswell White in 1970 in Kirkwood, Ill.

He attended school in various Van Buren County country schools and graduated from Cantril High School in 1932. He then attended Normal Schooling for one year in Keosauqua and was qualified to teach school.

He served in the Civilian Conservation Corps from early 1933 to 1934 and then farmed for several years in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. He worked as a watchman on the Santa Fe Railroad for two years during wartime, and then began work at John Deere Ottumwa Works in 1951, retiring after 27 years. He and his wife, Nina, spent their retirement traveling throughout the country, wintering in Florida, Texas and Arizona.

He was a member of Davis Street Christian Church, United Auto Workers Local No. 74, a former member of IOOF Lodge in Troy, a former social member of the O.B. Nelson Post No. 3 American Legion, Eagles Aerie No. 114 and Walter B. Schafer Post No. 775 Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Surviving include his wife; nine daughters, Sherry Armstrong and husband Jim, Darlene Crist and husband Ron, and Lila Bailey and husband Rick, all of Ottumwa, Connie Crosier and husband Clint of Moreno Valley, Calif., Wanda Zeitler of Moline, Ill., Bonita Drake of New Hartford, N.Y., Marlynn Davis of Glenwood, Sheila Poole of Keosauqua and Charlotte Metcalf and husband Matt of Douds; two sons, Charles K. Poling of Dubuque and Jan Poling and wife Cathy of Birmingham; one stepson John White and wife Pat of Plainfield, Ind.; 23 grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren, stepgrandchildren and stepgreat-grandchildren; one brother Craig Poling of LaCrescent, Minn.; one sister, Ilene Kohlmyer of Unionville, Mo.; two stepbrothers Archie McIntosh and Gene McIntosh, both of Monmouth, Ill.; and two stepsisters Nova Degelau of Fort Dodge, and Edna Reick of northern Iowa.

He was preceded in death by his parents; one brother Harold Poling; one great-granddaughter; and several stepbrothers.

Courtesy of the Fairfield Daily Ledger Inc. 2003