Gene L. Beilke

BEILKE, ADAMSON, KEYSER, SPRAGUE

Posted By: Judy Kelley (volunteer) (email)
Date: 4/1/2009 at 08:19:26

Wapello Republican, Mar. 29, 2007

Gene L. Beilke, 83, of Marshalltown, Iowa, died March 18, 2007, at Marshalltown Medical & Surgical Center.

Entombment was at 10 a.m. Friday at Riverside Mausoleum. A memorial service was held at 11 a.m. at the First Congregational Church. Following the service there was a time for lunch and fellowship at the church.

Pursel-Davis Funeral Home and Crematory provided arrangements.

Memorials were established for the Iowa River Hospice and American Legion Golf Course.

Born in 1923, in Buena Vista County, he was the son of Fred A. and Drusilla I. Beilke. He grew up in Wapello where he graduated from high school in 1941. He married Ernestine Adamson on May 29, 1948.

He attended Iowa STate Teachers College (University of Northern Iowa) before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1942, where he was a combat engineer in the European Theater.

At the close of hostilities he was one of 70 from all the European Theater major commands to attend Oxford University Army Intelligence School. He commmanded a field army level Reserve Air Photo Interpretation Unit tasked to process film obtained from U-2 flights during the Cold War.

He was awarded several badges and medals during World War II and two meritorious service awards during his reserve service. He retired in 1976 as a Lt. Colonel with 34 years of service.

He began teaching and coaching in 1948 at Geneseo Consolidated Schools and later at Laramie, Wyo. He received his masters degree in school administration from the University of Wyoming and became an elementery principal in Laaramie.

In 1962, he joined the Marshalltown Community School System as an elementary school principal and retired in 1984. He also acquired many post-graduate hours during his career of 36 years in education.

He served as president-elect, president and past-president of the Iowa State Elementary Principals Association.

Upon returning home he continued in the Army Active Reserves and enrolled again at the University of Northern Iowa earning his bachelor of arts degree in education in 1948. At graduation he received his commission in the United States Military Intelligence Branch. For more than 20 years he was assigned as the Mobilization Designee to the Assistant Chief of Staff for United States Intelligenge at the Pentagon. He was a faculty member at the _______.

He attended First Congregational Church and was a member of the American Legion. He enjoyed meeting and visiting with others, reading and sports, and was an avid golfer.

Survivors include his wife of Marshalltown; a daughter, Kandace B. and Thomas Keyser of White Bear Lake, Minn.; a son, Randall G. Beilke of Norwalk, and his grandson Adrian E. Keyser of Lino Lakes, Minn.

He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Russell Sprague.