Forrest Duane “Boots” Cordell

Gardner – Funeral services for Forrest Duane “Boots” Cordell, 84, Gardner, will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Bruce Funeral Home in Gardner. Burial with military honors will follow at Gardner Cemetery.Mr. Cordell died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007, at Meadowbrook Rehabilitation Hospital in Gardner.He was born Oct. 17, 1922, in rural Gardner, the son of Clarence Lee “Tib” and Ica Faun Williams Cordell.Mr. Cordell joined the Navy during World War II, serving on the USS Wright. He saw the Japanese aircraft heading to Pearl Harbor and participated in the liberation of the Philippines. He was an ironworker with Local 10 in Kansas City, Mo., retiring in 1984.He had been a member of Masonic Lodge No. 65 in Gardner since 1953. He was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Gardner, and the Disabled American Veterans in Olathe.He married Billie Jeanne Powell Cook on Oct. 29, 1949, in Olathe. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include a sister, Fern Fagg, El Dorado; a brother, Farrel Gene “Dude,” Gardner; a granddaughter and two great-grandsons.A son, Rocky Duane Cordell, died in 1990.The family will meet with friends from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, with Masonic services at 7 p.m., at the funeral home. The family suggests memorials to a charity of the donor’s choice, sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 192, Gardner 66030.