Bill Stickels Sr 1918-2011

STICKELS SMART ROBERTS

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 4/4/2011 at 23:00:50

Sioux City Journal
28 February 2011

SIOUX CITY -- Bill Stickels Sr., 92, of Sioux City passed away on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011, at a Sioux City hospital.

Abiding by Mr. Stickels' wishes, there will be no services and the body cremated. Arrangements are under the direction of Nelson-Berger Northside Chapel.

Bill was born June 30, 1918, to Walter and Jessie (Smart) Stickels in Sioux City, Iowa. In 1936, he graduated from Sioux City Central High School. He was active in basketball and football and was an all-city player. Bill was concert master in Central's orchestra. Fellow players in the strings section were "Dear Abby" and "Ann Landers."

He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1941 until 1945, during which time he was a flight instructor for B17s, B24s and B29s at Goodfellow and San Angelo Air Force Bases in Texas. With the exception of those years, Bill lived in Sioux City. When he returned from the war, he began his own flying school with fellow military friends at the Municipal Airport in Sioux City.

Bill married Adele Roberts on March 21, 1942. He retired from the South Sioux City McMaster Grain Company in 1983. He was a member of the area grain exchange and a former president of that organization. He was also a member of the Sioux City Elks Club.

Bill is survived by five children, Bill Stickels Jr. and his wife, Betty of Cambride, Minn., Ron Stickels and his wife, Angie of Hot Springs, Ark., Barb Stickels-Bradshaw and her husband, Mark of Dakota City, Scott Stickels and his wife, Eileen of Dakota Dunes, and Walt Stickels and his wife, Shirley of Riverton, Wyo.; 10 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death in 1979 by his wife, Adele Roberts-Stickels as well as his parents, Walter and Jessie Lumdsen-Stickels; his sister, Bernice Stickels-Johnson, all from Sioux City; and two grandchildren.