Richard Austin Cronk (1950)

CRONK, CAMPBELL, RHOADS

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler (email)
Date: 12/24/2006 at 14:49:40

Earlham Echo - May 25, 1950
Earlham, Iowa

Funeral services for Richard Cronk were held at a funeral home in Rockford, Illinois, Thursday evening, May 11 and at the church of the Brethren Saturday at 2:30 p.m. in Dallas Center, Iowa. Both services were in charge of Rev. Kenneth Yingst pastor of the Rockford church of the Brethren. The musical service was given by Mrs. Carter and Dean Hoover. Casket bearers were three cousins and three friends. Interment was in the Dallas Center cemetery.

At the services Rev. Yingst the family minister gave the following facts concerning Richard's life.

Richard Austin Cronk, son of Howard and Iva Cronk was born near Earlham, Iowa, December 12, 1920 and passed this life May 10, 1950 as he was going to work.

He moved with his parents, brother and sister to Wisconsin in 1929, returning to Iowa in 1936 and graduating from the Earlham high school with the class of 1939.

Richard was married December 22, 1941 to Ruth E. Campbell of Dallas Center, Iowa. They lived in Baltimore, Maryland until he was called to the service in 1944 where he spent eighteen months overseas with the navy.

Following his return from the navy he and his family moved to Rockford, Illinois where he was living at the time of his sudden passing. He united with the First Church of the Brethren, Rockford, Illinois on April 10, 1949. He with his wife were active members of the young adult fellowship of the church and at a recent meeting he was elected to one of the class offices. All of us who knew him, loved him. Quiet in manner though he was, he taught us much for he was clean in habit, clean in speech and clean in thought. As one of his closest friends expressed it, "I never knew Dick to have a bad habit." He was an example of the things in which he believed.

Surviving him are his wife, Ruth, three children, Dennis Richard 7, Karen Kay 3 and Vicki Rae 6 months, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Cronk of Dexter, a brother, Robert of Shirland, Illinois, two sisters, Mrs. Glenn Rhoads (Mary) Des Moines, and Jean Cronk of Dexter, also three nieces, two nephews, three uncles, three aunts, several cousins and a host of friends.