Ralph E. Meharry

Services for Ralph E. Meharry, 95, Ottawa, will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Faith Lutheran Church in Ottawa. Burial will follow in Highland Cemetery, Ottawa.Mr. Meharry died Thursday, May 18, 2006, at Ransom Memorial Hospital in Ottawa.He was born Dec. 17, 1910, in Chanute, the son of John R. and Victoria Steves Meharry. He grew up and attended school in Chanute. He then lived at an orphanage in Atchison and was later raised by Jess and Leah Hettick in Quenemo.Mr. Meharry served in the U.S. Army from 1942 until he was honorably discharged in 1945. He served with the 89th Division, 914th Field Artillery Battalion and was part of Patton’s advance through Central Europe including the first liberation of a concentration camp. He worked as a coal miner in Williamsburg and for the Santa Fe Railroad in Melvern. He worked as a plumber, gas station attendant and at the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in De Soto. He also worked for the Franklin County Road and Bridge Crew for 15 years and retired in 1975.Mr. Meharry was a member of Faith Lutheran Church in Ottawa and the Oasis Club.He married Ilo D. Basel on Sept. 22, 1940, in Vassar. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include two sons, John R., Leawood, and Lester D., Merriam; three grandsons and a great-granddaughter.The family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday at Lamb-Roberts Funeral Home in Ottawa. The family suggests memorials to the church, sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 14, Ottawa 66067.