Gregson, Willard Leo 1908-1994

GREGSON, SOUTER, FRYE, JENNINGS, SIMPSON, BEAULIEU, LOEBACH, CASHMERE, FOSTER, BONSTETTER

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 2/16/2010 at 11:18:59

The Grinnell Herald-Register (Grinnell, Iowa) Jan. 6, 1994

WILLARD GREGSON

Willard Leo Gregson, 85, of Algona, a native of Grinnell, died Wednesday, Dec. 29, at Good Samaritan Care Center in Algona.

Funeral services were conducted Jan. 1 at the First Presbyterian Church in Algona, with the Rev. Don Seeger officiating. Burial was in Riverview Cemetery, with the Wilson Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.

The son of Leo and Aleanor Souter Gregson, he was born July 11, 1908, in Grinnell. He attended rural schools in the Grinnell area until the family moved to Corwith in 1918. Following graduation from Corwith High School, he farmed for two years.

He was married to Pearl Frye, Dec. 19, 1920, in Humboldt. They lived in Algona where he was employed by the city street department. He began work for the Iowa Highway Department in 1941, retiring in 1973.

His wife, Pearl, died in 1948. On Oct. 9, 1949, he was married to Merna Jennings Simpson in Blue Earth, Minn. They lived in Algona and spent winters in Texas.

Mr. Gregson is survived by his wife, Merna; one son, Marvin Simpson of Ankeny; two daughters, Patricia Beaulieu of Westfield, Wis., and Marilyn Loebach of Estherville; seven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; two brothers, Kenneth of Mason City and Donald of Livermore, Calif.; and one sister, LaVel Cashmere of Cornell, Ill.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife; one brother, Cecil; and two sisters, Edith Foster and Opal Bonstetter.