William Miles Cleland

Funeral services for William Miles Cleland, 89, Vinland, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home.Mr. Cleland died Wednesday, May 21, 2008, at Medicalodge of Eudora.He was born Aug. 4, 1918, in Simmons Hospital in Lawrence, the son of Frederick William and Della Jenette Randall Cleland. He graduated from Vinland High School in 1938, where he won the Kansas High School Mile Championship. He attended Baker University on a track scholarship for three years, where he was conference champion in both the mile and two-mile events for several years.Mr. Cleland farmed and raised registered Hereford cattle with his parents during high school and college and began farming full-time after college in partnership with his parents. He showed Herefords at the American Royal, the National Livestock Show in Denver and other area cattle shows. He raised and sold registered Hereford bulls and heifers for many years and began raising Polled Hereford cattle in the early 1950s. He later raised crossbred cattle for feeders. He was a school bus driver for the Baldwin school district for 15 years and drove a machinery truck for five years for McConnell Farm Machinery Co. in Lawrence.He was active in both community and agricultural organizations. He was elected treasurer of the steering committee for the formation of Douglas County Rural Water District No. 4 and served the water district as treasurer for 26 years. He and his wife were elected president of the Vinland Fair Association in 1985, where they served for 13 years. They later continued to serve as fair board members.Mr. Cleland was a member of Belleview 4-H Club in his youth and later served Vinland Valley 4-H Club as a beef leader for many years. He and his wife were community leaders of the Vinland Valley 4-H Club for 13 years and were named the Kansas 4-H family of the year. He was president of Douglas County Livestock Association during its early years and also served a term as treasurer of the Douglas County Farm Bureau. He was elected to the Douglas County Extension Council and was the 4-H representative to the Douglas County Fair Board. He was a volunteer basketball coach for Vinland Grade School and served a term on the Baldwin school board.Mr. Cleland married Nora Lea Temple on March 10, 1951, in Lawrence. She survives, of the home. Survivors include three daughters, Sara A. Gilliland, Rochester, Minn., Linda C. Hoffmann, Fort Collins, Colo., and Anita L. Cleland, Missoula, Mont.; a son, W. Ross Cleland, Yamhill, Ore.; and three grandchildren.The family suggests memorials to the Douglas County 4-H Foundation or the National Parkinson’s Foundation, sent in care of the funeral home.Online condolences may be sent at www.rumsey-yost.com.