DAVENPORT, Cecil "Darrel"

DAVENPORT, SHOCKLEY, MILLSAP, MONAGHAN, CULVER, HOLLOWAY, AXTELL, MCKECHAN, GRAHAM, MINNICK, SPENCER, SALTZMAN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 8/3/2016 at 23:51:00

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa

OBITUARY ~ CECIL "DARREL" DAVENPORT
August 21, 1916 ~ June 12, 2001

Cecil Darrell Davenport was born August 21, 1916 at home in Monroe township, north of Kellerton, Iowa. He was the youngest of 11 children born to Leander and Martha (Shockley) Davenport.

Darrel assumed the responsibilities of the farm at the age of 15 when his father died. On November 20, 1937, he was united in marriage with Opal Lucille Millsap in Creston, Iowa.

Darrel had a love for the land. The straightness of the rows showed the kind of farmer he was. He started out in the lean years of the Depression and he never backed down from a job. Darrel operated a thrashing machine and after he had completed his thrashing and the machine was working at its best, he would do thrashing for area farmers.

Darrel and Opal enjoyed the nieces and nephews who would come to visit or stay on their farm. Although he did not go to church, Darrel was a living testimony to the Golden Rule; he always treated other people like he wanted to be treated himself. He will always be remembered for being a kind, fair, and gentle man.

In December of 1973, Darrel and Opal moved into Mount Ayr and he started as the greenskeeper at the Mount Ayr Golf & Country Club. He worked there until 1990 as well as being a jack-of-all-trades person. Darrel could do carpenter work; he was great at fixing small electrical items such as clocks, lamps and hairdryers and his love for the land carried into town with his garden. His favorite pastimes were playing pool and cards with friends and neighbors.

Darrel passed away on June 12, 2001.

Darrel was preceded in death by his parents; a son-in-law Bill Monaghan; brothers, Roy, Lloyd, Alvin and a set of twins in infancy; sisters, Florence Culver, Lucille Holloway, Doris Axtell, Marie McKechan and Goldie as a young girl.

Left to cherish his memory is his loving wife of 63 years Opal; a daughter Marilyn Graham and her husband Bud, all of Mount Ayr; three stepgrand-children, six stepgreat-grandchildren and one stepgreat-great-granddaughter; three sisters, Leona Minnick of Mount Ayr, Cora Spencer of Waukee, Iowa, and Dorothy Saltzman and husband Lial of Amana, Iowa; numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Funeral services were held Thursday, June 14, 2001 at Wilson-Watson & Armstrong Funeral Home of Mount Ayr with Reverend Charles Hawkins officiating. Musicians were Nancy Sackett, Mary Trullinger and Margaret Bickers. Casket bearers were R. B. Davenport, Don Spencer, Lyle Minnick, Cecil Davenport, Art Spencer and Steve Worthington.

Darrel was laid to rest in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr.

Memorials may be made to Hospice of Central Iowa, Ringgold County Chapter.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, August of 2016