Wendell Collison

WENDELL COLLISON

Springville

Wendell Collison, 91, died at his home on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016, with his family by his side. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22, at Goettsch Funeral Home, Anamosa, where friends may call after 11 a.m. Military honors will be accorded by the U.S. Navy. Interment will be in Green Center Cemetery, Morley. Thoughts, memories and condolences may be left at www.goettschonline.com.

Survivors include his wife, Vanita; two daughters, Patricia (Patsy) Collison and Wendella Garrow; two stepdaughters, Joanita Canavan and Kim Tognetci; 17 grandchildren; 40 great-grandchildren; six great-great-grandchildren; and one great-great-great-granddaughter.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a daughter, Sharon; a stepson, Mark; and three sisters, Loretta, Alma and Myrtle.

Wendell Harry Collison was born March 14, 1925, in Atalissa, Iowa. He was the son of Harry and Millie LaRue Collison. Wendell attended school in Atalissa and Muscatine. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on May 6, 1942. He was a gunner's mate on the USS Montpelier and served in the Asiatic Pacific Theater. During that time he started boxing and while training in Philadelphia he met his future wife, Mary Lipchock. He married her on Aug. 30, 1944. Following his discharge in 1946, he worked at a dairy farm in Borden Town, N.J., and later at US Steel. In 1960, he returned to Muscatine and worked at GPC. He retired from Roadway Trucking in 1987.

Wendell and Vanita Cozart Aegerter were married on Dec. 7, 2002, at Kenwood Methodist Church in Cedar Rapids. The couple made their home on acreage near Springville. Wendell and Vanita loved to go dancing. He also enjoyed raccoon hunting and playing any type of poker.