Whitehead, John I. 1911-1998

WHITEHEAD, MEEKER, GOTT, EDGINGTON, DONTJE, OZBORN, FOWLER, DEJONG, GEGNER, ADKINS

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 12/18/2010 at 10:58:00

Unidentified newspaper

JOHN WHITEHEAD

John I. Whitehead, 87, formerly of Montezuma and New Sharon, died Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown.

Funeral services were conducted Monday at the Harden Funeral Home in New Sharon, with Keith Reed officiating. Military honors were presented by members of the Coffin-Miller Post No. 446 of the American Legion. Burial was in Jackson Township Cemetery, Montezuma.

The son of George Washington and Nellie Grace Meeker Whitehead, he was born Sept. 15, 1911, in Browntown, Iowa. Raised and educated in the Browntown and Barnes City area, he had spent several years in Washington State involved in the construction of the Grand Cooley Dam. In 1939, he became the first man to be drafted from New Sharon and joined the U.S. Army, serving in the 34th Infantry Division. He saw action in the African and Italian theaters and earned the Purple Heart, the Silver Battle Star and the Bronze Battle Star.

He returned to Iowa and was married to Dorothy Murie Gott Aug. 26, 1946, in Sigourney. After living in Marshalltown for a short time, they moved to Montezuma where he worked for Whitehead Construction and Bowers Construction. He retired in 1972 and moved to New Sharon in 1980.

Mr. Whitehead was a member of Coffin-Miller Post of New Sharon.

He is survived by three sons, Bill of Des Moines, John of Lynnville and George of Montezuma; four daughters, Emma Edgington of Montezuma, Linda Dontje of Denver, Colo., Vema Ozborn of Marshalltown and Jenny Fowler of Grinnell; 16 grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; one brother, Art of New Sharon; and one sister, Dorothy DeJong of New Sharon.

He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; five brothers, Bob, Ted, Squint, Max and Tom; two sisters, Fern Gegner and Maggie Adkins; and one granddaughter.