Rudolf Karl Bock
Merriam Services for Rudolf Karl Bock, 82, Overland Park, will be at 10 a.m. today at Charter Funerals, Merriam. Graveside services will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Leavenworth National Cemetery.
Mr. Bock died Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2002, in Overland Park.
He was born May 17, 1920, in rural Arthur, Ill., the son of the Rev. August and Lydia (Fromm) Bock. He grew up in rural areas of Illinois and Iowa and graduated in 1937 from Brook Consolidated High School, near Peterson, Iowa. From 1938 to 1941 he attended Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, Iowa.
Mr. Bock enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on Nov. 25, 1941. He was assigned to 1st Pioneer Battalion 1st Marine Division, and participated in invasions of Guadalcanal and Tulagi, British Solomon Islands; Cape Gloucester, New Britain; and Peleliu, Palau. He also participated in Marine Corps activities in New Guinea and Australia. He was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V and Purple Heart.
He remained active in the Marine Corps Reserve for more than 25 years. He was called to active duty during the Korean War and assigned to the Marine Air Corps Station in Cherry Point, N.C. He retired from the reserves in 1973 as first sergeant, H&S Company, 24th Marine Regiment in Kansas City, Mo. He also participated in Guadalcanal Veterans Assn. and 1st Marine Division Assn.
Mr. Bock graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1947 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and history and from the NU School of Law in 1950. Until 1979, he was a lawyer for Employer’s Group Insurance Co. and Commercial Union Insurance Co. in Omaha, Neb., Wichita, and Overland Park. He also served as president of the Kansas Claims Adjusters Assn. during the 1960s. From 1976 to 1985 he handled product liability claims for Miracle Recreation Playground Equipment Co. of Grinnell, Iowa.
He married Virginia Lee Pyle on May 26, 1946, in Lewiston, Neb. She survives of the home.
Other survivors include two sons, Karlton, of the home, and Shelley, Lawrence; a daughter, Kimlee Ashmore, Clovis, N.M.; a brother, Edward, Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and four grandchildren.
The family suggests memorials to Marr Sound Archives, Miller Nicholas Library, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 800 E. 51st St., Kansas City, MO 64110.