Le Roy IL Funeral Homes
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Heart-felt tributes to honor a dear friend or loved one who has passed away
101 East Center Street
Le Roy, IL 61752
(309) 962-3191
Le Roy IL Obituaries and Death Notices
Monday, March 27, 2017Jeffrey Christison; one great-grandson, Jasper Scholtz; a sister, Vivian (Vedder) Knight of White Hall; and many special nieces and nephews, who affectionately referred to him as "Good Ole Uncle Roy."He was preceded in death by his parents; wife; one brother, Edward Christison; and one sister, Marjorie Choate.A celebration of Roy's life will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 30, at Sunset Funeral Home and Cremation Center, Danville.Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Roy will be laid to rest next to Jean at Sunset Memorial Park.Please join Roy's family in sharing photos and memories on his Tribute Wall at www.sunsetfuneralhome.com.
Monday, March 27, 2017Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Over the next three years he was able to hike and canoe most of the trails and lakes in the BWCA. During this period, Bob met Dr. Dave Mech, who was studying wolves in Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, and began assisting Dave there and in the BWCA. This was the only area in the lower 48 states then inhabited by wolves, and Bob was with Dave in 1968 when the team captured the first wolf and radio-collared it. In 1969, Bob was offered a faculty position in the University of Montana’s School of Forestry by Dean Arnold Bolle, a noted conservation leader, and moved to the state he would call home for the rest of his life. He began the Wolf Ecology Project in 1973 and determined no established pack or breeding pair existed in Montana. He received funding to hire two biologists, and in 1979 they trapped a wolf in the North Fork of the Flathead River valley and tracked her for a year and a half. This wolf found a mate and produced seven pups in 1982, marking the first pack documented in the northern U.S. Rockies in at least 50 years. By 1995, Bob estimated 80 wolves resided in northwest Montana, and wolves now appear to have become a stable part of Montana’s wildlife ecosystem again. Bob was well known for heading up the Wolf Ecology Project, but he took most pride in the Wilderness and Civilization Program he established at UM in 1975. The W&C Program is an interdisciplinary program providing students an opportunity to explore humans’ relationship to wilderness and civilization, and includes faculty from wilderness management, ecology, philosophy, Native American studies, economics, creative writing, and others. The program begins each fall with a 10-12 day backpack trip, combining outdoor skills with education. Bob often described how students’ inhibitions dissolved during the trip, which stimulated lively class discussions once they returned to their traditional classroom settings. Thousands of students studied with Bob during his tenure at UM, in courses such as resource conservation, large mammal conservation, wildlife ecology and management, habitat management, and wilderness management, and Bob helped launch the careers of many talented conservationists. Bob capped his UM career as Acting Dean of the School of Forestry from 1993-1994.Bob was passionately involved in politics. He served in the Montana Legislature as a representative from Missoula from 1983-1997, where he distinguished himself on fish and game, taxation, and natural resource issues, sponsoring Montana’s stream access law, mini-Superfund law, and restitution payments for illegally taken wildlife, among others. Bob served as Chair of the Montana Democratic Party from 1997-2005, a period in which the Party saw significant electoral gains at the legislative and statewide levels. Bob’s other professional accomplishments incl...
Monday, January 09, 2017Civilian Conservation Corps where he helped develop Giant City State Park near Makanda, IL, and Copper Falls State Park at Mellon, WI. While in Wisconsin, he helped fight forest fires on Isle Royal in Lake Superior.In 1936 he left the CCC to attend Adrian College in Adrian, MI. After completing his Bachelor’s degree, he attended Westminster Theological Seminary in Westminster, MD. It was during this time that he married the love of his life, Juanita Earnest, on Dec. 26, 1941. They enjoyed 70 years of marriage before her death in 2012.During his ministry, he served churches in northern Ohio, the Eastern Shore of Maryland. After obtaining his masters of Divinity, he returned to southern Illinois where he served churches in Enfield, Shipman, Murphysboro, Jerseyville, Carterville, East St. Louis, Benton, and Mt. Carmel. As a pastor, he actively participated in the camping program of the Southern Illinois Methodist Conference at Little Grassy Methodist Camp on Little Grassy Lake. He helped build the original structures, and he and Juanita both directed camps there. In his spare time his hobbies were woodworking, gardening, hunting, and fishing.He retired in 1979 to Newton where he served as interim pastor at the First Christian Church, Blair United Methodist Church, and Kedron United Methodist Church. In 1999 he and Juanita decided to move to Carbondale to be near their daughter, Jean, and her children and grandchildren. There they enjoyed the fellowship of several other retired ministers and attending the First United Methodist Church in Carbondale. He and Juanita also volunteered at the Visitors’ Center at Giant City State Park where Earl was considered the resident CCC historian.Earl is survived by three children: daughter, Jean and Peter Wories of Carbondale, daughter, Sue Dickey and Tom Pollard, of Alameda, CA, and son, Lee and Dana Dickey of Redding, CA; grandchildren, Kevin (Rosemary) McCamish and Megan Harmon all of Carterville, Casey (Nico) Anselmi of Fidenza, Italy, Rebecca Renfroe of Clarkesville, TN, Adam Wories of Carbondale, and Rachelle (Brandon) Ridgeway of DuQuoin; eleven great-grandchildren, Kaleb McCamish and fiance Rachel Tate of Ft. Collins, CO, Col...
Monday, October 31, 2016I was a baby in the cradle when he came home on leave from the Army. I was told my Uncle Roy came home to meet his new nephew. Then he went to Korea, and nobody ever saw or heard from him again,” said Paul DeFrain, who is 66 years old.DeFrain provided the Army with a sample of his DNA a decade ago after the skeletal remains of seven individuals were excavated in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir in a joint recovery mission conducted by the U.S. Army and North Korea’s army. "Two Korean eyewitnesses” who had knowledge of the grave had provided information about the site.A U.S. Defense Department autopsy report states:“This site was situated approximately one kilometer southwest of the 31st Regimental Combat Team’s defensive perimeter and beside the road used by the 31st during its withdrawal.”But that does not tell the story of the 20-year-old Coporal Fink’s final days and how he and so many others died."The Americans had been pushing the North Koreans back quite a bit when Roy went missing in the Chosin Valley," said Army Sgt. Ethan Unterweger, who is assisting DeFrain in preparation for his uncle's funeral. "He was probably in the first wave of those getting hit by the Chinese. Originally we believed the Chinese had come over one side of the mountain into the reservoir, but research has shown th...
Monday, October 24, 2016Frances Marian Belveal Davis. She graduated from Hedrick Consolidated School in 1954, and attended Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in Cedar Falls. She met Dean Le Roy Patten there and they were married on April 6, 1956. Jeane was widowed in 1983, when Dean died unexpectedly from a heart attack.In 1992, she married William D. “Bill” Hoyland and together they retired to Wisconsin to build their dream home. In 1996, they joined Teen Missions International as team leaders and took 26 teens to France for a summer of evangelism and construction.They established Goshen, a refuge, a ministry to ritual abuse victims. In 2003, they moved back to Iowa where, in 2006 Bill died from duodenal cancer. Jeane then moved to Indianola where she remained until her death.Her life was changed completely when she became a Christian in 1976. She, along with her husbands, as imperfect but forgiven people, endeavored to live for the Lord. She was a dance teacher, a salesperson, a travel counselor and an office manager. Her most fulfilling public position in addition to ministry was in the English Department at the University of Northern Iowa where she enjoyed the interaction with both the professors and the students. Her most fulfilling private position was as a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She loved to decorate, make jewelry and other crafts, read,...
Monday, October 24, 2016Leo and Isabelle Wenzl. He leaves behind his children Joseph Paul Wenzl and Mary Elizabeth Burke, grandchildren; David Alexander Wenzl, Sean Patrick and Rachel Elizabeth Burke, brother Le Roy Wenzl and wife Linda, brother Delbert Wenzl, sister Leona Doidge and 16 nieces and nephews. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends. Joseph will be laid to rest at Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Memorial contributions may be made in Joseph's name to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Omaha, Nebraska. Heritage Funeral Chapel Peoria, AZ 623-974-3671...
Monday, October 17, 2016Virginia Holt. He was a student at Bartlesville High School where he was a sophomore. In school, he was a member of the French Club, Drama Class and also was a member of the Bartlesville Royal Rangers. Drake attended Spirit Church in Bartlesville where he was active in many of the church activities. He always lived his life on his own terms, never worrying about what other people thought. He had a helping spirit about him, always thinking of others and he never met a stranger. He loved animals and he loved to read, but most of all he loved God. Although, his life was short in years, he, perhaps, touched more lives than many who lived far more years than he did. Drake is survived by his great-grandmother, Virginia Holt; mother, Khrislyn Robinett and her husband, Travis; grandmother, Dianna Murr and her husband, David; grandfather, Raymond Phillips; uncle, Anthony Phillips, aunt, Jennifer Countryman and her husband, Aaron; aunt, Deborah Hill and her husband, Donnie; uncle, Mark Holt and his wife, Anna; siblings, Tyrell Yancey, Arrea Yancey, Michael Phillips, Willow Phillips, Ashley Robinett and Colby Robinett; and many family members across the United States, including several cousins. He was preceded in death by his father, Tyrell Yancey. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Drake’s memory be given to Spirit Church, 900 S. Dewey, Bartlesville, OK 74003. Visitation will be held on Friday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Saturday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM; and on Sunday from 1-8:...
Le Roy News
Monday, March 27, 2017Jeffrey Christison; one great-grandson, Jasper Scholtz; a sister, Vivian (Vedder) Knight of White Hall; and many special nieces and nephews, who affectionately referred to him as "Good Ole Uncle Roy."He was preceded in death by his parents; wife; one brother, Edward Christison; and one sister, Marjorie Choate.A celebration of Roy's life will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 30, at Sunset Funeral Home and Cremation Center, Danville.Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Roy will be laid to rest next to Jean at Sunset Memorial Park.Please join Roy's family in sharing photos and memories on his Tribute Wall at www.sunsetfuneralhome.com.
Monday, March 27, 2017Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Over the next three years he was able to hike and canoe most of the trails and lakes in the BWCA. During this period, Bob met Dr. Dave Mech, who was studying wolves in Isle Royale National Park in Michigan, and began assisting Dave there and in the BWCA. This was the only area in the lower 48 states then inhabited by wolves, and Bob was with Dave in 1968 when the team captured the first wolf and radio-collared it. In 1969, Bob was offered a faculty position in the University of Montana’s School of Forestry by Dean Arnold Bolle, a noted conservation leader, and moved to the state he would call home for the rest of his life. He began the Wolf Ecology Project in 1973 and determined no established pack or breeding pair existed in Montana. He received funding to hire two biologists, and in 1979 they trapped a wolf in the North Fork of the Flathead River valley and tracked her for a year and a half. This wolf found a mate and produced seven pups in 1982, marking the first pack documented in the northern U.S. Rockies in at least 50 years. By 1995, Bob estimated 80 wolves resided in northwest Montana, and wolves now appear to have become a stable part of Montana’s wildlife ecosystem again. Bob was well known for heading up the Wolf Ecology Project, but he took most pride in the Wilderness and Civilization Program he established at UM in 1975. The W&C Program is an interdisciplinary program providing students an opportunity to explore humans’ relationship to wilderness and civilization, and includes faculty from wilderness management, ecology, philosophy, Native American studies, economics, creative writing, and others. The program begins each fall with a 10-12 day backpack trip, combining outdoor skills with education. Bob often described how students’ inhibitions dissolved during the trip, which stimulated lively class discussions once they returned to their traditional classroom settings. Thousands of students studied with Bob during his tenure at UM, in courses such as resource conservation, large mammal conservation, wildlife ecology and management, habitat management, and wilderness management, and Bob helped launch the careers of many talented conservationists. Bob capped his UM career as Acting Dean of the School of Forestry from 1993-1994.Bob was passionately involved in politics. He served in the Montana Legislature as a representative from Missoula from 1983-1997, where he distinguished himself on fish and game, taxation, and natural resource issues, sponsoring Montana’s stream access law, mini-Superfund law, and restitution payments for illegally taken wildlife, among others. Bob served as Chair of the Montana Democratic Party from 1997-2005, a period in which the Party saw significant electoral gains at the legislative and statewide levels. Bob’s other professional accomplishments incl...
Monday, January 09, 2017Civilian Conservation Corps where he helped develop Giant City State Park near Makanda, IL, and Copper Falls State Park at Mellon, WI. While in Wisconsin, he helped fight forest fires on Isle Royal in Lake Superior.In 1936 he left the CCC to attend Adrian College in Adrian, MI. After completing his Bachelor’s degree, he attended Westminster Theological Seminary in Westminster, MD. It was during this time that he married the love of his life, Juanita Earnest, on Dec. 26, 1941. They enjoyed 70 years of marriage before her death in 2012.During his ministry, he served churches in northern Ohio, the Eastern Shore of Maryland. After obtaining his masters of Divinity, he returned to southern Illinois where he served churches in Enfield, Shipman, Murphysboro, Jerseyville, Carterville, East St. Louis, Benton, and Mt. Carmel. As a pastor, he actively participated in the camping program of the Southern Illinois Methodist Conference at Little Grassy Methodist Camp on Little Grassy Lake. He helped build the original structures, and he and Juanita both directed camps there. In his spare time his hobbies were woodworking, gardening, hunting, and fishing.He retired in 1979 to Newton where he served as interim pastor at the First Christian Church, Blair United Methodist Church, and Kedron United Methodist Church. In 1999 he and Juanita decided to move to Carbondale to be near their daughter, Jean, and her children and grandchildren. There they enjoyed the fellowship of several other retired ministers and attending the First United Methodist Church in Carbondale. He and Juanita also volunteered at the Visitors’ Center at Giant City State Park where Earl was considered the resident CCC historian.Earl is survived by three children: daughter, Jean and Peter Wories of Carbondale, daughter, Sue Dickey and Tom Pollard, of Alameda, CA, and son, Lee and Dana Dickey of Redding, CA; grandchildren, Kevin (Rosemary) McCamish and Megan Harmon all of Carterville, Casey (Nico) Anselmi of Fidenza, Italy, Rebecca Renfroe of Clarkesville, TN, Adam Wories of Carbondale, and Rachelle (Brandon) Ridgeway of DuQuoin; eleven great-grandchildren, Kaleb McCamish and fiance Rachel Tate of Ft. Collins, CO, Col...
Monday, October 31, 2016I was a baby in the cradle when he came home on leave from the Army. I was told my Uncle Roy came home to meet his new nephew. Then he went to Korea, and nobody ever saw or heard from him again,” said Paul DeFrain, who is 66 years old.DeFrain provided the Army with a sample of his DNA a decade ago after the skeletal remains of seven individuals were excavated in the vicinity of the Chosin Reservoir in a joint recovery mission conducted by the U.S. Army and North Korea’s army. "Two Korean eyewitnesses” who had knowledge of the grave had provided information about the site.A U.S. Defense Department autopsy report states:“This site was situated approximately one kilometer southwest of the 31st Regimental Combat Team’s defensive perimeter and beside the road used by the 31st during its withdrawal.”But that does not tell the story of the 20-year-old Coporal Fink’s final days and how he and so many others died."The Americans had been pushing the North Koreans back quite a bit when Roy went missing in the Chosin Valley," said Army Sgt. Ethan Unterweger, who is assisting DeFrain in preparation for his uncle's funeral. "He was probably in the first wave of those getting hit by the Chinese. Originally we believed the Chinese had come over one side of the mountain into the reservoir, but research has shown th...
Monday, October 24, 2016Frances Marian Belveal Davis. She graduated from Hedrick Consolidated School in 1954, and attended Iowa State Teachers College (now the University of Northern Iowa) in Cedar Falls. She met Dean Le Roy Patten there and they were married on April 6, 1956. Jeane was widowed in 1983, when Dean died unexpectedly from a heart attack.In 1992, she married William D. “Bill” Hoyland and together they retired to Wisconsin to build their dream home. In 1996, they joined Teen Missions International as team leaders and took 26 teens to France for a summer of evangelism and construction.They established Goshen, a refuge, a ministry to ritual abuse victims. In 2003, they moved back to Iowa where, in 2006 Bill died from duodenal cancer. Jeane then moved to Indianola where she remained until her death.Her life was changed completely when she became a Christian in 1976. She, along with her husbands, as imperfect but forgiven people, endeavored to live for the Lord. She was a dance teacher, a salesperson, a travel counselor and an office manager. Her most fulfilling public position in addition to ministry was in the English Department at the University of Northern Iowa where she enjoyed the interaction with both the professors and the students. Her most fulfilling private position was as a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She loved to decorate, make jewelry and other crafts, read,...
Monday, October 24, 2016Leo and Isabelle Wenzl. He leaves behind his children Joseph Paul Wenzl and Mary Elizabeth Burke, grandchildren; David Alexander Wenzl, Sean Patrick and Rachel Elizabeth Burke, brother Le Roy Wenzl and wife Linda, brother Delbert Wenzl, sister Leona Doidge and 16 nieces and nephews. He will be dearly missed by his family and friends. Joseph will be laid to rest at Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park in Omaha, Nebraska. Memorial contributions may be made in Joseph's name to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Omaha, Nebraska. Heritage Funeral Chapel Peoria, AZ 623-974-3671...
Monday, October 17, 2016Virginia Holt. He was a student at Bartlesville High School where he was a sophomore. In school, he was a member of the French Club, Drama Class and also was a member of the Bartlesville Royal Rangers. Drake attended Spirit Church in Bartlesville where he was active in many of the church activities. He always lived his life on his own terms, never worrying about what other people thought. He had a helping spirit about him, always thinking of others and he never met a stranger. He loved animals and he loved to read, but most of all he loved God. Although, his life was short in years, he, perhaps, touched more lives than many who lived far more years than he did. Drake is survived by his great-grandmother, Virginia Holt; mother, Khrislyn Robinett and her husband, Travis; grandmother, Dianna Murr and her husband, David; grandfather, Raymond Phillips; uncle, Anthony Phillips, aunt, Jennifer Countryman and her husband, Aaron; aunt, Deborah Hill and her husband, Donnie; uncle, Mark Holt and his wife, Anna; siblings, Tyrell Yancey, Arrea Yancey, Michael Phillips, Willow Phillips, Ashley Robinett and Colby Robinett; and many family members across the United States, including several cousins. He was preceded in death by his father, Tyrell Yancey. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in Drake’s memory be given to Spirit Church, 900 S. Dewey, Bartlesville, OK 74003. Visitation will be held on Friday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Saturday from 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM; and on Sunday from 1-8:...
