Peter Morrell Purdy 1926-2004

FOSTER, PURDY, WEIMER, STRANG

Posted By: Lori Clark (email)
Date: 1/29/2004 at 08:15:54

Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service
Iowa City – 319-338-1132

Iowa City Press Citizen – paid & picture
Cedar Rapids Gazette – paid & picture

Iowa City Dateline:

Peter M. “Pete” Purdy, age 77 of 1 Cottage Grove Drive, Iowa City died Wednesday, January 28, 2004 at Solon Nursing Care Center in Solon after enduring years of Alzheimer’s disease. Pete’s family wishes to thank all the outstanding and caring individuals who make Solon Nursing Care Center a very good place for families and their loved ones.

Cremation services were provided by Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service of Iowa City. Memorial services will be held Saturday, January 31, 2004, at the Miller Funeral Home in Sioux Falls. South Dakota. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in Pete’s memory to any of the following, Sioux Falls Children’s Inn or Children’s Hospital, Humane Society, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Foundation. Online condolences may be sent for Pete’s family through our website @www.gayandciha.com.

Peter Morrell Purdy was born December 20, 1926, in Minneapolis, Minnesota the son of Harold and Gertrude (Foster) Purdy. Following graduation from Kemper Military School, “Pete” enlisted in the United States Navy during WWII. Upon discharge from active service, he enrolled and later graduated from the University of Kansas in 1950. That year he married Mary Sue Weimer. She died in 1978 and he married Barbara Strang in 1980. For nearly forty years, Pete was employed in Sioux Falls, SD with the company his great-grandfather founded in Ottumwa, Iowa, the John Morrell Company.

Pete was a member of the Calvary Cathedral Lutheran Church in Sioux Falls, the Elks Club, American Legion, and enjoyed his membership at the Minnie Hay Country Club where he was often found playing a round of golf or playing pitch with his friends. He was a 1000-hour volunteer at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls.

His family includes his wife, Barbara Purdy; sons, Charles Wayne Purdy of Sioux Falls, SD and Steve Morrell Purdy of Hebron, KY; sister and her husband, Joan and Buford Roney of Shawnee Mission, KS; three stepchildren, James Strang, MaryBeth Guillaume and Mitchell Strang; and six grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and his wife, Mary Sue Purdy.

Barbara Purdy, Pete’s wife remembers her husband as a gentle man, and a true gentleman; one whose smile and dry sense of humor was his trademark. You never heard Pete say a bad word about anyone; he was raised to be polite and courteous, and has spent his life living these values. “I have never known a nicer human being,” says Barbara.

Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service of Iowa City is caring for Pete’s family and his arrangements locally.