|
| |
LaVerne Earl McWithey © Alva Review-Courier 08-05-2020 Submitted by: Jo Aguirre
|
November 17, 1940 - July 28, 2020
Graveside services for LaVerne "Verne" Earl McWithey, 79, will be held 10:30 a.m., Saturday, August 1, 2020, at Alva Municipal Cemetery with Rev. Dennis King officiating. Arrangements are under the direction of Marshall Funeral Home, Alva.
Verne was born Nov. 17, 1940, in Meade, Kansas, to Walter and Leila (Hoskins) McWithey and passed away peacefully July 28, 2020, at the Fairview Fellowship Home in Fairview, Oklahoma.
At a young age Verne moved with his mother, brother Gerald Dean and sister Aldena Faye to Freedom, Oklahoma, and then settled in Alva in the early 1950s where Verne attended Horace Mann Elementary School and graduated from Alva High School in 1959.
Verne was drafted at the age of 18 into the United State Army Corps for active duty in the Korean War, but put in for a hardship to help support his family. He started his first job at the Woods County News delivering newspapers immediately after graduating.
Four years later at the age of 22 he reported to duty to serve his country. He attended boot camp at Fort Polk, Louisiana, followed by radio school at Fort Gordon, Georgia. He shipped out for Korea from San Francisco, California, by way of Alaska and Japan. He served 13 months in Korea in communications, and then was shipped back to San Francisco by way of Japan and Hawaii. Having a few months left on his contract he was sent to Fort Hood, Texas.
After Verne arrived home he continued to serve in the Army Reserve for the next four years and was honorably discharged May 1969. He also returned to work at the Woods County News for the next 25 years until it closed due to a fire in 1990. Verne began looking for a job and found Artistic Printing in Fairview was in need of a skilled pressman. There wasn't anything that Verne couldn't do or fix and he was a master of everything. Verne retired from Artistic Printing in 2012.
When asked what his hobbies were, he said, "I never had time for them," but did say he enjoyed all the local events in Fairview and Alva, which he often shot video footage from one of the original camcorders you held on your shoulder, He enjoyed everything from the Major County Threshing Bee, Fairview Rodeo Parade, Fairview and Alva Fly-ins, and NWOSU Homecoming Parade.
He is survived by sister-in-law Sharon McWithey, Tulsa; close friends Joy Chaney and families, Cleo Springs, and Jo and Hoby Hammer and families, Fairview; cousins Evona Murray, Aline; Ivan Tidwell, Tulsa; Rikki Langley, Kingfisher; Ruth Hays, Judy Abendroth, Betty Hawkins, all of Burlington, Kansas; Mary Lou Shidler and Randy Hoskins, Indiana; Lois Walsh, Kansas; Victor Hoskins, Arkansas; Randy Hoskins, Plymouth, Indiana; Mary Lou Shidler, Argos, Indiana; Lois Walsh, Platte City, Missouri; and Helen Wright, Towanda, Kansas.
Remembrances may be shared with the family at http://www.marshallfuneralhomes.com.
M Surnames - Alva Cemetery |Woods County Page| |Home|
This site may be freely linked, but not duplicated in any way without consent.
All rights reserved! Commercial use of material within this site is prohibited!
© 2000-2024 Oklahoma CemeteriesThe information on this site is provided free for the purpose of researching your genealogy. This material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, for your own research, as long as this message remains on all copied material. The information contained in this site may not be copied to any other site without written "snail-mail" permission. If you wish to have a copy of a donor's material, you must have their permission. All information found on these pages is under copyright of Oklahoma Cemeteries. This is to protect any and all information donated. The original submitter or source of the information will retain their copyright. Unless otherwise stated, any donated material is given to Oklahoma Cemeteries to make it available online. This material will always be available at no cost, it will always remain free to the researcher.