Verl Abbott

Verl Abbott passed away on Thursday, April 28, 2011, at the V.A. Community Living Center in Des Moines.

Memorial Services: Wednesday, May 4, 2011, at 1:30 p.m. at the Steen Funeral Home in Greenfield with burial in the Greenfield Cemetery with full military graveside rites by the Greenfield American Legion Head-Endres Post No. 265 and V.F.W. Post No. 5357. Online condolences may be left to the family at www.steenfunerals.com.  A luncheon will follow the committal service at the Cornerstone Fellowship Church.

Open Visitation: Tuesday, May 3, 2011, from 2 to 8 p.m. at the Steen Funeral Home in Greenfield.

Family Visitation: Tuesday, May 3, 2011, from 6 ot 8 p.m. at the Steen Funeral Home in Greenfield.

Memorials: To the Verle Abbott Memorial Fund to be established by the family.

Verl Gale Abbott was born May 18, 1924, in Creston, Iowa, to John Elmer and Sarah Agnes (Gray) Abbott.  He passed away on Thursday, April 28, 2011, at the V.A. Community Living Center in Des Moines, Iowa, at the age of 86.

Verl was born and raised in Greenfield, Iowa. He graduated from Greenfield High School in 1943.  After graduation Verl, with his brothers, Earl and Wayne, were drafted into the military.  He served his country in the United States Army during W.W. II as a Quarter Master. He participated in Campaigns in France, Germany and Belgium and landed on Normandy Beach two days after the D-Day Invasion. He was honorably discharged in December of 1945.

After the war, he married Alnora Christensen, and the two of them started farming.  They farmed only for a couple of years, when he became an iron worker and joined the Des Moines Iron Workers Union Local 67. His iron working years found him involved in many major construction projects including the Vets Auditorium, the nuclear plant at Palo, IA, and the SAC missile silos at the Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha and the Lincoln (NE) Air Force Base.

In his free time, he enjoyed fishing, dancing, crafts, and he loved to play cribbage; just ask his grandsons.  He had a close friendship with Sir Peter Green of West Des Moines, Iowa, also a WWII veteran, who had served his majesty, King George VI, in the British Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot. 

Verl was devoted to his dear companion Jean Boscaljon of West Des Moines, Iowa, and enjoyed his last years with her.       

He was preceded in death by his parents; infant daughter, Wilhelmina; four sisters, Thelma Riddler, Velta Price, Dorotha Berry, and Lucile Stark; and three brothers, Franklin, Roland, and twin Earl Abbott.

He is survived by his two daughters, Yvonne Abbott of Clyde, Texas and Genevieve Bartelt (Ron) of Grimes, Iowa; son, Dean Abbott (Klystell) of Winterset, Iowa; brother, Wayne Abbott of Rochester, MN; ten grandchildren; great grandchildren ; a multitude of nieces and nephews; and other relatives and friends.