Howard C. Wallace

Mr. Wallace died Sunday, April 27, 2003, at a Topeka hospital.

He was born July 23, 1918, in Ottawa, the son of Robert and Bessie (Dale) Wallace. He grew up in Ottawa and graduated from Ottawa High School in 1938.

Mr. Wallace worked for Willis Nursery in Ottawa. He enlisted with the U.S. Army on April 30, 1942, and served in 783rd Air Material Squadron, Combat Infantry, as an antitank gunner and demolition expert. He received the Purple Heart on Aug. 5, 1944, and was honorably discharged on Oct. 13, 1945. He worked for Palmer & Jones as a dynamite and nitro man putting in electrical lines from November 1945 to 1952. He worked at Sunflower Ammunition Depot in De Soto from 1952 to 1962 and at Melvern Golf and Country Club from 1962 until he retired in 1983. He was a member and post commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 5901 in Ottawa and a member of Greens Keepers of America Assn. and Ottawa Horseshoe Club, where he won two state championships in his class.

He married Phyllis Joy Catuska on Jan. 26, 1939, in Ottawa. She died Feb. 11, 1989.

Survivors include a daughter, Adele Pierce, Princeton, Kan.; four grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.

A great-grandson, Shannon Pierce, died earlier.

Family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

The family suggests memorials to V.F.W. Post No. 5901 or the Ottawa Horseshoe Club, sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 14, Ottawa 66067.