Merwin D. “Mike” Funston

Memorial services for Merwin D. “Mike” Funston, 88, Lawrence, will be at 2 p.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence. Private burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery before the services. Mr. Funston died Thursday, Feb. 7, 2008, at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor.He was born April 5, 1919, in Abilene, the son of David E. and Mary L. Steele Funston. He attended Talmage High School and Dickinson County High School and graduated in 1937. In 1939, he enrolled in mechanical engineering at Oklahoma A & M in Stillwater, Okla. Mr. Funston served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1942 to 1943, when he began Officer Candidate School. He graduated as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and was stationed in Fort Monmouth for radio school. He then served in the Pacific Theater.He worked for John Deere Tractor in Waterloo, Iowa, and then at Kansas Power and Light in Lawrence, where he was superintendent for eight years. He transferred to the KPL general office in Topeka, where he was responsible for design, engineering and construction of power plants, transmission lines, substations and related facilities; he retired in 1982 as manager of electrical construction after 34 years of service.Mr. Funston was a member of First Presbyterian Church for many years. He volunteered at the Lawrence Senior Center for 13 years doing tax returns for senior citizens. He served on each of the church boards and the construction committee of the new church. He enjoyed woodworking, walnut furniture and researching the Thorp family history, and traveling to Canada, Pennsylvania and Salt Lake City. Mr. Funston married Zelma M. Thorp on Oct. 2, 1943, in Asbury Park, N.J. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include a daughter, Patricia Trapp and husband Rick, Lawrence; a son, John and wife Jenna, Champaign, Ill.; four granddaughters, Laurie and Rebecca Trapp and Helen and Martha Funston; a great-grandson, Ajay Sharma; two sisters-in-law, Pearl Thorp, Prairie Village, and Gwen Funston, Topeka; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by a granddaughter, Jennifer L. Trapp.The family suggests memorials to the church or Heart of America Hospice, sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.The family will receive friends at the church following the services.Online condolences may be sent at www.warrenmcelwain.com, subject: Funston.