Speas, Eldon Everett 1923-2000

SPEAS, SMITH, HUFF, GROCE, KEEFE, EDMUNDS, JACK, ONTHANK, VAN DONSELAAR

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes (email)
Date: 6/7/2011 at 14:17:54

The Grinnell (Ia) Herald Register; Sept. 4, 2000

ELDON E. SPEAS

Eldon Everett Speas, 76, of Oskaloosa died Friday, Sept. 1, at Mahaska County Hospital.

Funeral services were to be held Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2000, at First Church of the Nazarene in Oskaloosa. Officiating were the Rev. Gary Smith and the Rev. Lenny Wisehart. Interment was in Hazelwood Cemetery in Grinnell. Memorials may be made to Kentucky Mountain Bible College through Garland-Van Arkel-Langkamp Funeral Chapel in Oskaloosa which was in charge of arrangements.

Mr. Speas was born Nov. 18, 1923, in Lynnville to Charles and Millie Smith Speas. He farmed for 50 years in the Lynnville, Gilman, Malcom and Brooklyn areas. He was married Dec. 24, 1943 to Helen Huff, who died Feb. 26, 1984. On July 13, 1985 he was married in Asheville, N.C. to Nan Groce. They have been residents of Oskaloosa since 1990.

He was a member of Northside Friends Church in Grinnell; First Church of the Nazarene in Oskaloosa and the Iowa Holiness Camp Meeting which he served as president.

He is survived by his wife, Nan, of Oskaloosa; two sons, Glenn, Oklahoma, and Philip, Van Cleve, Ky.; six grandchildren; two great grandchildren; two stepdaughters, Becky Keefe, Tiffin, Ohio, and Joy Edmunds, Liberty, S.C.; two stepsons, Bill Groce, Glassboro, N.J., and Wes Groce, Central, S.C.; five stepgrandchildren; one sister Abbie Jack, Motnezuma, and two brothers, Joseph Speas, Lansing, Mich., and Ralph Speas, Stow, Ohio. He was preceded in death by his parents; his first wife; two sisters, Edith Onthank and Grace Van Donselaar, and five brothers, Floyd, Harold, Clarence, Howard and LaVerne Speas.