Merrill L. “Bood” Stebbins

Oskaloosa – Funeral services for Merrill L. “Bood” Stebbins, 84, Perry, will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Barnett-Chapel Oaks Funeral Home in Oskaloosa. Burial will be in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Perry.Mr. Stebbins died Monday, Oct. 1, 2007, at Colmery-O’Neil Veterans Affairs Hospital in Topeka.He was born Jan. 22, 1923, in Perry, the son of Charles F. And Velma Louisa Dick Stebbins. He graduated from Perry High School in 1942. He attended auctioneer school in Decatur, Ind., and real estate school in Topeka. He was a lifelong resident of Perry.Mr. Stebbins served in the U.S. Army during World War II from 1943 to 1945 in the 350th General Army, 88th division, in the Italian Theater. He received a Purple Heart for wounds received in action in May and July of 1944. He was an auctioneer and ran Stebbins Auction Services in Perry for 54 years. He served as auctioneer at the Lawrence Livestock Sale Barn for 28 years and Gottstein’s Auction in Perry for more than 10 years. He worked as a real estate agent in Topeka and for Haverty-Hatfield Realtors in Lawrence. Mr. Stebbins also worked as a custodian and school bus driver for Perry-Lecompton Unified School District 343 for 45 years. He was a member of Perry United Methodist Church, Masonic Lodge 415 and American Legion Post 142, all in Perry.He married Georgie Arlene Petrie on Sept. 7, 1946, in Bonner Springs. She survives, of the home. Other survivors include a daughter, Treva Jean Bunce, Perry; three brothers, Herbert and Lyle, both of Topeka, and LaVerne “Chick,” Oskaloosa; a sister, Lorraine Baker, Topeka; and a grandson.The family will receive friends from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home. The family suggests memorials to the M.L. “Bood” Stebbins Memorial Fund, sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 416, Oskaloosa 66066.