MEACHAM, Laurence "Larry": 1914-2000

MEACHAM, BROWN, HOFFMAN

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 5/31/2014 at 05:16:38

The Fairfield Ledger
Wednesday, August (9), 2000

Laurence 'Larry' Meacham

Laurence Hilliard "Larry" Meacham, 86, of Richland, died at his home on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2000.

The funeral service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Friday at the United Methodist Church in Richland with the Rev. Wilbur Morfitt officiating. Burial will follow in Clay Cemetery near Richland.

The family will receive friends from 7 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Gould Funeral Home in Richland. Memorial contributions may be made to either the Richland Public Library or the Richland United Methodist Church.

The son of Charles H. and Sylvia Jane Brown Meacham, he was born near Richland on April 19, 1914. He grew up on a farm southeast of Richland and graduated from Richland High School in 1932. On Aug. 19, 1943, he married Nellie B. Hoffman at Keosauqua.

A self-educated radio operator repairman, he had earned the first-class radio telephone operator license and the advanced-class amateur radio operator license before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1943. He was a radio instructor for the Navy in Lexington, Mass. and Newport, R.I. during World War II. Mr. Meacham was the supervisor at the Iowa Police Radio, later called the Communications Division of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, in Fairfield for 27 years.

He had lived in Fairfield for eight years before returning to the family farm in 1953. He was a full-time farmer from 1968-1977, and then continued to help his son on the farm until 1997.

He was a member of the Clay Congregational Church, attended the Richland United Methodist Church and was a member of American Legion Post No. 504 in Richland. A ham radio operator for 70 years, he was a member of the American Radio Relay League for 66 years.

Survivors include his wife of the home; a son, Chuck of Richland; and three grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Helen Louise Meacham.

(Transcribed for genealogy purposes only.)