Stanley A Massie 1918-2010

MASSIE GILMORE HOFFMAN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 11/12/2010 at 17:43:29

Sioux City Journal
23 April 2010

SIOUX CITY -- Stanley A. Massie, 91, Sioux City passed away Monday, April 19, 2010, at his residence in NorthPark Senior Living Community.

Services will be 11 a.m. Monday at Faith Lutheran Church in Onawa, Iowa, with the Rev. Barbara K. Hansen officiating. Burial will be in Onawa Cemetery, with military rites conducted by the U.S. Air Force. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday, with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m., at Rush Family Care Service in Onawa. Condolences may be sent online for the family at rushfamilycareservice.com.

Stanley was born Dec. 21, 1918, in Callaway, Neb., the son of Harland Birdell and Myrtle (Gilmore) Massie. Due to his father's death, Stanley farmed and also attended school in Cozad, Neb., where he graduated. He furthered his education at Westmar College at Le Mars, Iowa. Stanley joined the U.S. Army Air Corps on July 25, 1941, and was a gunnery instructor during World War II until his discharge on Nov. 16, 1945. He returned to Westmar and received a bachelor of science degree.

Stanley and Virginia Hoffman were united in marriage June 21, 1942, at Harlingen, Texas. He was very talented, skilled and gifted and wore many hats during his journey of life. After teaching high school for 10 years, he attended and did graduate work at Texas A&I and Texas A&M. He built more than 400 boats, nights and weekends, was a foreman of furniture factories in Texas and was a computer programmer for the jet engine test facility at Kelly AFB, San Antonio, Texas, until his retirement in 1988. He was a bee keeper and pioneered procedures for control of Africanized killer bees in south Texas.

The couple made their home in various locations in Texas and Iowa until April 2008, when they moved to NorthPark Senior Living Community in Sioux City, where Virginia passed away on Aug. 20, 2009.

He was a member of Faith Lutheran Church in Sioux City and a former member of Concordia Lutheran and Shepherd of the Hills both at San Antonio. Stan enjoyed feeding and watching the birds in his back yard. His greatest joy in later years was his bee keeping and his wonder at God's gifts.

Survivors include a son and his wife, Stanley Alan II and Valerie Massie of Spring Creek, Nev.; nine grandchildren; a sister, Margaret Engelbrecht; two sisters-in-law, June and her husband, Merle Savage of Sioux City and Dorothy Gust of Mapleton, Iowa; and many nieces and nephews.

In addition to his wife, he was also preceded in death by his parents; three brothers; and two sisters.