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November 2, 2009

Floyd Daniel Birkey

Floyd Daniel Birkey, 90, of Paxton, passed away at 5:55 p.m. Sunday Nov. 1, 2009, at Heartland Health Care Center in Paxton.

Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, at the East Bend Mennonite Church in Fisher with Rev. Michael Dean and Rev. Terry Westerfield officiating. Burial will follow in Willow Brook Cemetery, Fisher, with military graveside rites.

Visitation will be at Baier Family Funeral Services, 406 E. Pells St. in Paxton from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009.

Floyd was born on Nov. 20, 1918, in Foosland, Ill., the son of Alvin and Amelia Zehr Birkey. He married Jean Allen on Feb. 27, 1941, in Chicago. She survives.

Also surviving are his daughters, Shirley (Roger) Greenup of Brentwood, Tenn., and Donna Alsteen of Thomasboro, Ill.; his sons, Ron (RaNae) Birkey of Danville and Brian Birkey of Paxton; three granddaughters, Holly Ashford of Thomasboro, Carrie (Baron) Verge of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and Kathryn (Jeff) McCoy of Hillsdale, Ind.; four great-grandchildren, Brandon, Arianna, Jakin and Isabella; his brother, Carroll “Kelly” (Minerva) Birkey of Paxton; and two sisters, Viola Stacy of Fisher and Margret Oyer of Meadows, Ill. He was preceded in death by his parents and five brothers.

Floyd attended the Dixon one-room school house in rural Foos-land, Ill. After eight years of grade school, he had to go to work on the farm due to the Great Depression. He later received his high school GED after retirement. He was stationed in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during World War II and was a T/Sgt in the 950th Ordinance. After the war, he returned home to manage Springer Implement in Fisher. Floyd co-founded and was the past president of Birkey’s Farm Store, which started in 1954. He retired in 1978, then moved and lived in Horseshoe Bend, Alaska, for 22 years.

Floyd was baptized at the East Bend Mennonite Church and was a current member of the First Methodist Church in Paxton. He loved baseball and was an avid White Sox fan. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the AMVETS, and the Lions Club. He was mayor of Fisher from 1952 to 1954. But most of all, he loved being with his family.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in his name to the Alzheimer’s Association, The Heartland Health Care Center in Paxton and the East Bend Mennonite Church.

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