Wilbur William Mcnichols

Funeral Services for Wilbur William McNichols, age, 94, of Winterset, Iowa will be held 11:00 am, Saturday, August 16, 2014 at the First Christian Church in Winterset. The family will receive friends at Ochiltree Funeral Services in Winterset from 6:00 - 8:00 pm, Friday, August 15, 2014.

Wilbur was born January 20, 1920 near Winterset, Iowa, the son of William Ross McNichols and Verna Mae (Leach) McNichols. The family farmed Middle River bottomland east of Winterset. Wilbur attended school in Patterson until the death of Ross in 1937 when he began handling the farming duties for the family. After the farm was sold to the Penn-Dixie Rock Quarry, Wilbur entered the Navy in 1944. He took Basic Training in Farragut, Idaho before being deployed with the 27th Battalion Navy Seabees to the Okinawa and le Shima. The unit survived a kamikaze strike upon landing and two typhoons while building infrastructure on Okinawa until his discharge in February 1946.

After the war, Wilbur began work at the Winterset Monument Company in April 1946 and worked there 42 years until he retired. Wilbur designed “Wilbur’s rose” and other design elements utilized to decorate monuments. He hand lettered many local monuments, most notably the entrance stone at the Madison County Historical Society. Wilbur was one of the last artisans to use a steel chisel and later an air hammer chisel to letter the stones.

Some say it was love at first sight when Wilbur met Florence Lenore Guessford of Newton, Iowa at the Tromar Ballroom in Des Moines, Iowa. On August 20, 1946 they were married at the First Methodist Church in Winterset. Together they raised two children and were very active at the First Christian Church in Winterset where Wilbur was an elder for many years, a founding member of the Christian Men’s Fellowship, and sang in the choir. Wilbur loved the outdoors and fishing, hunting, gardening, volunteering with the Boy Scouts and motorcycling. He and Florence enjoyed volunteering at the Madison County Historical Society and traveling.

Wilbur passed on August 14, 2014 at Winterset Care Center South, just 6 days before their 68th wedding anniversary. He was 94.

He is survived by his wife, Florence of Winterset; son Mel (Sheryl) of Jacksonville, FL; daughter Marylyn (Thomas) Tuura of Atlanta, GA; grandchildren Megan (Jesse) Ortega (and great granddaughter Adelaide due in November) of Houston, TX and Logan Tuura of Salt Lake City, UT; brother Kenneth (Joyce) McNichols of Bondurant and many dear sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, sisters Lucile, Irene, Ethel, Iola and Blanche and brother Willard.
Memorials in honor of Wilbur may be directed to the First Christian Church of Winterset.