Purdum, Don Eugene 1925-2013

PURDUM, FARNSWORTH, SCHINCKON, ROWELL, HANSON, YOUNG, KUCERA

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 1/28/2014 at 12:35:12

The Record
Thursday, July 4, 2013

DON PURDUM

Don Purdum, 89, of Grinnell and formerly of Malcom, passed away peacefully on July 1, at Grinnell Hospital. Services were July 3 at the Holland-Coble Funeral Home in Montezuma with Chaplain Keith Morrison officiating. Burial was in the Jackson Township Cemetery in Montezuma.

Don Eugene Purdum was born Feb. 14, 1925 to Ben and Pearl Farnsworth Purdum in the parental home, Montezuma. Don was graduated from Montezuma community school in 1943. He was an active athlete, lettering in football, basketball, and track. He entered the US Army Air Corps on Armistice Day, November 11, 1943. He was trained as an aircraft mechanic and served stateside on a B29 bomber crew during WWII. Don returned to civilian life on Feb. 13, 1946, one day before is birthday.

Don married Germaine Schinckon June 14, 1947 at St. Patrick Catholic Church, Brooklyn, Iowa. The couple lived briefly in Des Moines where Don was employed as an aircraft mechanic at Beaver Field. They returned to the Montezuma area in 1949 where with the aid of GI Night School the two began the life of farming they would share until Don's retirement.

He enjoyed a lifetime of working with his hands in such endeavors as farm equipment maintenance, carpentry, woodworking, and music. He was a self-taught harmonica and concertina player who entertained family and friends, as he made music in the car while waiting on Germaine as she shopped.

He was preceded in death by his parents Ben and Pearl, brothers Bruce, Mack, Carroll, Dwight, Cletus, and sister Edna Rowell.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Germaine, son Neal (Cedar Rapids), daughter Jean and son-in-law Leo Hanson of Fremont, Neb., grandson Eric Hanson, his girlfriend Jordan Young, and their newborn daughter Paige of Scribner, Neb., and his granddaughter, Celina, her husband Chuck Kucera, and their daughter Carlee also of Fremont, Neb.