Obituary of Charles L Willison

A funeral service for Charles Willison, age 89, of Milford will be held Wednesday, December 30, 2015 at 10:30am at Union Memorial Church in Milford. Burial will be at Milford Cemetery. Visitation will be on Tuesday, December 29th after 3:00pm with the family present from 5:00-7:00pm at Turner Jenness Funeral Home in Milford. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Milford Fire and Rescue. Charles Leverne Willison was born March 12, 1926 near Everly, Iowa to Perry and Zona (Witzman) Willison. He was the youngest of seven children. As a young child they moved to a farm west of Milford, where he attended the "old Okoboji School." Later Perry and Zona moved to a farm on the edge of the town of Milford where he attended the rest of his school years. In 1944 Chuck enlisted in the Navy, and gained the rank of "Coxswain." He was honorably discharged in May 1946. In August of 1947, Chuck married Betty Lou Wallace. They made their home in Fostoria until they moved west of Milford to begin farming. In 1951, they moved to a farm east of Milford where they continued farming and raised their family. Chuck and Betty's younger years were spent farming, raising their three children, Deb, Doug, and Dana, along with square dancing, bowling, and playing cards with the Terril group. In the mid 1970's they started traveling south for the winter, ending up in Florida for the last thirty-five years. In his later years Chuck became a regular at the elevator for coffee and storytelling. He was famous for driving his "highly decorated" golf cart around town, often picking up his brother, Cliff, to go touring and reminiscing about the good old days! Chuck passed away peacefully on December 26, 2015 at the age of eighty-nine. He was preceded in death by his parents; four brothers, Cliff, Wayne, Rich, and baby Dale; two sisters, Zola and Lucille. He is survived by his wife Betty Willison of Milford; three children, Deb (Terry) Olson of Terril, Doug Willison of Milford, and Dana (John) Metcalf of Dickens; five grandchildren, Robin Olson Brown, Shannon Olson Smith, Kelly Olson Pedersen, Adam Metcalf and Heather Metcalf Johnson; nine great-grandchildren; and many other nieces, nephews, and friends.