Thomas L. Berkley (1920-1994)

BERKLEY

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 1/23/2012 at 20:03:16

Maquoketa Sentinel Press, January 27, 1994

THOMAS BERKLEY
Thomas Lee Berkley, 73, died January 21, 1994, at Colonial Manor in Avoca. Funeral services were held Monday, January 24 at 10:00 A. M. at Beidelman Funeral Home in Panora with Rev. Maynard Toensing and the Rev. Charles Rafferty officiating. Burial was at 4 P.M. in Mt. Hope Cemetery, Maquoketa.
Mr. Berkley was born November 1, 1920 at Maquoketa to Ralph and Mayme Pickett Berkley. He graduated from Maquoketa High School in 1939. On November 12, 1942, he entered the U. S. Army and served honorably during World War II until his discharge in 1943. He married Leanna Pankow Gordon in April of 1946.
He worked for a time as an electrician, but in 1947 began working for the Iowa Conservation Commission. He retired as Game Management Superintendent after 37 years. His work gave him the opportunity to live in several communities including Preston, Earlham, Ossian, Cedar Rapids, Lake Mills, Panora and for the past 20 years, Atlantic.
He loved the outdoors. He enjoyed hunting, trapping, archery, fishing, and was an accomplished gunsmith. He shared his experience in a manual, "Trapping Iowa Furbearers." He was a member of the Iowa Trap Shooting Association and was one of the few to score 50,000 targets.
Survivors include four sons, Donn Gordon of Carson City, Nevada, Tom Berkley of Exira, Paul Berkley of Harlan and Jim Berkley of Hiawatha; a daughter Nancy Armstrong of Panora; 14 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, two grandchildren and sister, Vivienne McDonald.