Dannie Wilburn COVERDELL

COVERDELL, PAGE, OVERHOLSER

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/2/2009 at 21:15:06

OBITUARY - DANNIE WILBURN COVERDELL

Dannie Wilburn COVERDELL was born October 17, 1938 at home in Knowlton, Iowa. He went “Home” to be with his parents on May 17, 2008. Dannie, known to everyone as Bubby, came into this life with many special challenges. His parents were told he would never live to be a year old. At the age of 4, he began to finally walk. He grew up & lived most of his life in the Diagonal community with his parents & enjoyed helping them with the daily farm operations. He attended school in Diagonal until in the 4th grade he had to quit because of disabilities. Horses were a great passion for Dannie. He had his own horse, Billy, growing up. Billy seemed to understand Dannie’s special needs. If Dannie would drop the reins, Billy would stop & stand perfectly still until someone would pick them up & give them back to him.

Dannie & his mother moved to town following his father’s death in 1967. His years in town were spent mowing yards all over Diagonal with his push mower. After finishing his daily mowing, he would spend at least an hour cleaning & washing the mower until it was spotless to begin the next days mowing again. He was also known for how well he washed cars, including the ambulance. There wasn’t anyone around who could get a car any cleaner & shinier than he could. He took great pride in his work. He loved saving the money people paid him & spent countless hours counting it as he was going to buy himself a new red car someday. He also looked forward to Saturday mornings when he knew Nellie & Larry would be bringing Tammy & Penny down to spend the weekend with him. Saturday nights were always set aside for “All Star Wrestling” & making cows, better known to most people as ice cream floats.

In 1978, following the death of his mother, he lived with his sisters Nellie & Lucille until moving to Country Haven in Corning in 1991. Dannie enjoyed every aspect of living at Country Haven. He attended the Adams County Races, Special Olympics, taking crafts to the fair, attending church & especially his bowling. Life was so full for Dannie that it wasn’t unusual for Nellie to stop in to see him & he would be gone. If he was getting ready to go someplace he would tell her, “You have to go, I’m leaving!” Dannie was baptized September 16, 1996 at the Redeemer Lutheran Church in Corning. In 2002, following the loss of muscle control of his legs, Nellie moved him to Crest Haven Care Center in Creston where he would be closer to her so she could visit him everyday. Even confined to his wheel chair, Dannie still enjoyed being taken fishing & on car rides. He soon grew to love the staff there and you knew when you went in to see him, you would find him sitting right up front by the nurse’s station with a big smile on his face because he had been teasing someone about something. And as always, no matter where he was, he especially enjoyed his daily pop & candy. He loved having family come see him and during his last week, several who had not seen him in quite some time came to say their last goodbyes.

Dannie passed away Saturday afternoon at Crest Haven with his sister Nellie, brother-in-law Larry, nieces Tammy & Penny, great nieces Cindy & Amanda, great nephew Cory & great-great nephew Caden at his bedside. The last 5 days of his life was spent in the loving care of Nellie & Larry, Tammy & her family and Penny & her family who were by his side constantly.

Dannie is survived by his sister Nellie & husband Larry of Creston; sister-in-law Norma COVERDELL of Springdale, Ark.; many nieces & nephews and numerous special friends at Crest Haven Care Center in Creston & Country Haven in Corning.

He is preceded by his parents Fay & Jeannittie (PAGE) COVERDELL; 2 brothers Kenneth (in infancy) & Harold; a sister Lucille OVERHOLSER and a brother-in-law Forest OVERHOLSER.

He was a very special son, brother, uncle & friend to all & will be missed by everyone who knew him.

Services were held on Wednesday, May 21, 2007 at 10:00 a.m., United Church of Diagonal, Diagonal, Iowa.

SOURCE: www.funeralplan2.com/watsonarmstrongfh/archive?id=133134