Merle Arthur Woods 1922-2012

WOODS OLSON SOLLEDER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 11/4/2012 at 22:05:58

Sioux City Journal
October 25, 2012

SLOAN, Iowa | Merle A. Woods, 90, of Sloan passed away Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012, at Pleasant View Care Center in Whiting, Iowa.

Services will be 1:30 p.m Friday at Community Church of Christ in Sloan, with Dr. Emery Killian officiating. Burial will be in Sloan Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Rush Family Care Service in Onawa, Iowa. Condolences may be left online for the family at www.rushfamilycareservice.com.

Merle Arthur was born on Feb. 13, 1922, in Sloan, to Flaviel and Cecelia (Olson) Woods. He graduated in 1940 from Sloan Consolidated School and helped his father farm until he enlisted in the U.S. Navy on Dec. 12, 1942. He received his training at Great Lakes Naval Training Station in Evanston, Ill., and Oceanside, Calif. Merle served as a radioman on several ships in the South Pacific during World War II, receiving an honorable discharge in Minneapolis on Jan. 27, 1946. Upon returning to Sloan, he resumed farming with his father.

Merle and Ruth Solleder were married on June 1, 1947, in First Central Congregational Church in Omaha. They lived in Sloan except for two years when they resided in Montebello and Long Beach, Calif., and one year in Urbandale, Iowa. Merle built and operated a motel, mobile home park, Laundromat, and a restaurant and lounge, all in Sloan, until his retirement.

He was past president of the Sloan Commercial Club, having served during the Sloan Centennial in 1970, a trustee of Congregational Church, a member of American Legion Post 295, and Community Church of Christ. He liked to build, work on inventions, watch news and sports on television, travel in the U.S.A. and spend some winters in Sun City, Ariz.

Merle is survived by his wife, Ruth; three nieces, Madelyn (Pat) Krug of LaMirada, Calif., Jacqueline (Ed) Smiley of Fresno, Calif., and Sally (Tom) Leach of Austin, Texas; a nephew, Morgan Sparks of Los Alamos, N.M.; and several grandnieces and grandnephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; five sisters and their husbands, Marie (Ferdinand) Schweizer, Edna (Vernon) Heacock, Faye (Clarence) Rasmussen, Marian (Kenneth) Johnson and Dorothy (Howard) Trent; three brothers, John, Warren, and Everett; three nieces, Patricia Zaleta, Dorothy Hoelle, and Karen Hussissian; and two nephews, James Heacock and James Rasmussen.