Dorance S. DAY

DAY, SMITH, PETERSEN, BISSONETTE, FERGUSON, KLECKNER, FOSTER, CONNER, MCDANIEL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 12/26/2010 at 20:33:39

December 16, 2010
Clear Lake Mirror- Reporter, Iowa

June 17, 1916 -- December 16, 2010

Dorance S. Day, 94, of 15 Marflow St., Ventura, Iowa died Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 at his home in Mesa, Az. Funeral service will be 11 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 23, at the First Congregational Church, Clear Lake, with Rev. Michael Nash officiating. Visitation will be Wednesday from 5 -7 p.m. at Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, Clear Lake and then one hour before the service on Thursday at the church. Interment will be Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City, Iowa. Memorials may be given to the First Congregational Church, Clear Lake.

Dorance was born June 17, 1916 in Klemme, Iowa, the son of John N. and Anna Mildred (Smith) Day. He graduated from Klemme High School in 1933 and attended the University of Iowa for two years. He married Ruth E. Petersen on Dec. 31, 1935 in Clear Lake. During the war Dorance worked on the B-25 Bomber in Englewood, Calif. as the leadman. He was the last person to see and check the plane after the B-25’s were built. While working for North American Aviation he gave final inspection to the B-25 Mitchell Bombers that bombed Tokyo, Japan in the Doolittle Raid. Dorance noted “It was the heaviest armed plane in the war.” He is listed on the National World War II Memorial because of his work with the B-25 Bomber. He was awarded the the Army-Navy E award for excellence while working for North American Aviation.

Dorance worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. as a sales representative, assistant manager and senior sales representative. He retired from them in November 1976. Over the years they lived in Mason City (1936-39), Klemme(1939-41), Elsequndo, Calif. (1942-1946), Mason City (46-48), Des Moines (1948-52), Klemme (1952-58), Clear Lake, (1958-69) and Ventura (1969-present).

Dorance enjoyed working with people. His hobbies included hunting, fishing in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Montana. He is a past president of the Ventura Lions Club, Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, a life member of the National Rifle Association and a lifelong member of the First Congregational Church. He established the D.S. Day Wildlife Refuge in 2008 and planted trees and coverage for 15 years. He also donated five acres of land to Hancock County to be held in perpetuity for the wildlife that he so loved. Dorance has enjoyed retirement in Mesa for many years. Dorance married Elaine (Bissonette) Ferguson on Nov. 28, 1998. They enjoyed splitting their time between her home in Mesa and his home in Ventura.

Dorance is survived by his wife, Elaine Day, Mesa; son, Gary B. Day and his wife, Elna, Mason City; two grandchildren, John J. Day, Iowa City, Iowa and Kristin L. Kleckner and her husband, Michael, Des Moines, Iowa; one great-grandson, Nicholas Foster, Des Moines; step-children, Keith Ferguson and his wife, Rebecca, Apache Junction, Az., Annette Conner and her husband, Charles, Atlanta, Ga. and Holly McDaniel and her husband, Gene, Mesa. Dorance was preceded in death by his parents and first wife, Ruth Day (June 30, 1993). Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, Clear Lake, was in charge of arrangements.