Bert W. DARRAH

DARRAH, JACKSON, ANDERSON, MOODY

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/12/2008 at 22:30:41

Rockford Register Star, IL
November 10, 1999

OREGON, Illinois - Bert W. Darrah, 86, of Oregon, formerly of Wheaton, died Sunday, Nov. 7, 1999, in Rockford Memorial Hospital. Born Jan. 28, 1913, in Kanawha, Iowa, the son of Wallace and Margrett Jackson Darrah. Married Imogene Anderson in 1934. Attended Iowa State University and studied advanced engineering at the University of Minnesota. During World War II, he joined Army Ordnance and was assigned to the Tank Division as an engineer. After founding International Trading Co., B.W. Darrah Inc., he traveled extensively overseas, bringing international understanding and friendship to many. The Presidential E-Award for Excellence in Exporting was presented to him in 1966. He helped found the International Trade Club of Chicago and was active in the Chicago Port Authority, Illinois Manufacturer Association and National Manufacturer Association. He retired to Oregon in 1971, where he continued his enjoyment of the outdoors including hunting, fishing and gardening. He earned the Field and Stream awards for Moose and Bear in a single year. He was a founding member of Hayward National Fishing Museum. His home in Oregon was known as "Daffodil Lane" where he and his wife had planted thousands of daffodils that naturalized in their wooded acreage. He was a role model for his two children, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, and is loved and cherished by his surviving family: Imogene Darrah, Babs (Tom) Moody and Dick (Barbara) Darrah.

Memorial services at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13, in Oregon United Methodist Church, with the Rev. Mark Jacobs, pastor, officiating. Memorials to the church in his memory preferred. Farrell-Holland-Gale Funeral Home, 110 S. Seventh St., Oregon, assisted the family with arrangements.