Lawrence Kopecky

LAWRENCE KOPECKY

Monticello

Lawrence J. Kopecky, 79, of Greeley, Colo., and formerly of Monticello, died Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2014, at North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colo.

Friends may call from 3 to 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 2, at Kramer Funeral Home in Monticello, Iowa, where a parish rosary will be recited at 3 p.m. Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 3, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Monticello, with inurnment in the church cemetery. Military honors will be accorded by the Monticello Drill Team and the U.S. Navy Honors Detail. Officiating will be the Rev. Paul Baldwin.

Lawrence was born on Sept. 6, 1935, in Elberon, Iowa, the son of Joseph and Ruth (Kesl) Kopecky. He graduated from Elberon High School in 1953.

He served in the U.S. Navy as a radio operator on the USS Mauna Loa from August 1953 to August 1956.

He married Ruth Odell on April 9, 1958, in Belle Plaine, Iowa. Together they moved to Monticello where he worked for and eventually became the sales manager for Linn-Jones Farm Service, until retiring around 1990.

He was a member of the Monticello Lions Club and the American Legion.

Survivors include his children, Candy Eilers of Overland Park, Kan., Randy (Joyce) Kopecky of Omaha, Neb., and Sandy (Penny) Duncan of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; four grandchildren, Eric Eilers of Overland Park, Kan., Kristin (Andrew) Vaughn of Ely, Iowa, and Jack and Robert Kopecky of Omaha, Neb.; two great-granddaughters, Layla and Parker Rouse, and one step-great-grandson, Will Vaughn, all of Ely; one brother, Leander (Florene) Kopecky of Cedar Rapids; and one sister, Rosemary Roberts of Forestdale, Mass.

Lawrence was preceded in death by his wife, Ruth, in 2000; a daughter, Mandy, and a son, Andy, both in infancy; and one sister, Annette Henry.

Memorials may be given to the Honor Flight of Northern Colorado in lieu of flowers, http://www.

honorflightnorthern

colorado.org.

Information is available and condolences accepted at www.kramerfuneral.

com.