Raymond James Van Cleave 1922-1999

GARY VAN CLEAVE STARK

Posted By: Connie Swearingen-Volunteer (email)
Date: 11/29/2012 at 14:08:25

SMITHLAND, Iowa — Raymond James Van Cleave, 76, of Smithland died Saturday, June 26, 1999, at St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha, Neb.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday at St. John Lutheran Church in Climbing Hill, Iowa, with the Rev. Michael Harmon officiating. Burial will be in Willow Township Cemetery, Holly Spring, Iowa, with military rites conducted by American Legion Hindman-Steele Post 492 of Hornick, Iowa.

Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. today, with a prayer service at 7 p.m. at Willman Funeral Home in Rodney, Iowa.

Mr. Van Cleave was born Nov. 8, 1922, in Newcastle, Neb. the son of Charles and Celia (Gary) Van Cleave. He graduated from Winnebago (Neb.) Public School.

He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II.

He married Edith Stark on Feb. 17, 1946. The couple farmed in the Hornick, Holly Springs and Smithland area. He also was employed with Westendorf Manufacturing in Smithland.

He was a member of American Legion Hindman-Steele Post 492 and USS North Carolina Memorial Museum.

Survivors include his wife; three sons, Kenneth of Omaha, Roger of Errithetsburg, Iowa, and James and his companion, Sue Wessling, of Mapleton, Iowa; four daughters and their husbands, Ruby and Vernon Monahan of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Mary Ann and Randy Lussier of Hubbard, Neb., Dianne and Kenneth Deck of Newmanstown, Penn., and Deborah and Billy Mead of Dow City, Iowa; 15 grandchildren, Timothy, Kyle, Casey, Jamie, Amber and Ashley Van Cleave, Matthew and Connie Monahan, Brenda and Dale Lussier, Virginia and Kevin Deck and Dustin, Jeremiah and Billie Jo Mead; a great-granddaughter; a brother and his wife, Clayton and Jean of Salix, Iowa; and a sister, Elaine Dillard of Grand Island, Neb.

He was preceded in death by his parents, three brothers and two sisters.