Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Thursday at First United Presbyterian Church, Clinton, Iowa, for Delbert H. Dudley, 82, of Clinton, who died Monday, Dec. 15, 2003, at Alverno Health Care Facility. A Masonic Rose Croix will begin the services at church. The Rev. Connie Peake will officiate. Visitation will be 4-8 p.m. today at Lemke Funeral Homes North Chapel, Clinton.

Memorials may be made to the church, Trees Forever, Clinton Art Association, Clinton County Historical Society or the Master Gardeners of Clinton County, of which he was a member.

Burial will be 10 a.m. Friday in Old Baptist Cemetery in Emmerson City, Ill., south of Waltonville, Ill. The Newell Funeral Home of Mount Vernon, Ill., will be in charge of the out-of-state cemetery services.

Delbert Harry Dudley was born March 14, 1921, in Mount Vernon, to James F. and Maude A. (Grant) Dudley.

He was a graduate of Mount Vernon High School in 1938, and he worked for the Illinois National Park Service.

He came to Clinton with DuPont. He attended Scovill Business College and then joined the Naval Air V5 program at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and also attended classes at the University of Iowa in aero dynamics and hydraulic engineering.

He later was transferred to the joined the Naval Air Academy in Pensacola, Fla., from which he graduated as a Marine Air Corps Naval Aviator, bombardier. He was transferred to Cherry Point and was a navigator and pilot. He spent his war years in the South Pacific until the surrender of Japan. After that, he flew for Chang Cai Chek for three years. He retired for the Marine Air Corps as lieutenant major. He returned to Clinton in 1948 and worked for the Chevrolet, Cadillac dealer until 1950.

He married Marie Elizabeth Brumer on Sept. 3, 1950, in Jacksonville, Ill., at the Chapel of McMurray College for Women. She survives him.

He then attended the Horological College of Bradley University, Peoria, Ill., and then graduated from Gemological Institution of Santa Monica, Calif.

He and his wife Marie bought the fourth generation Brumer Jewelry Store, which they owned and managed for 40 years as Brumer Dudley Jewelers. He was a registered jeweler and gemologist and they retired on Oct. 2, 1995.

He was a 32 degree Mason and 50-year member of the Clinton Masonic Lodge Western Star No. 100 Scottish Rites Bodies and Lyons Masonic Lodge No. 93. He was a member of the Kaaba Shrine Temple in Davenport and musical director of the Clinton Shrine Oriental band for many years. He was very active in the Clinton Community and promoted Clinton and surrounding areas.

He was a business manager of the Clinton Symphony Orchestra and played oboe in the orchestra. He was a member of the Clinton Community Band, YMCA, a 50-year member of the United Community Travelers, Downtown Business Association, active in the Main Street Project and the Clinton Country Club.

Survivors include his wife, Marie; a son, David Dudley, and his wife, Rita, of Phoenix, Ariz.; a daughter, Denise Dudley, and her late husband, Gerald "Jerry" Brown, of Santa Margarita, Calif.; two grandchildren, Grand Dudley Brown and Seth Hunter Brown, of Santa Margarita; two brothers, William Leonard Dudley, and his wife, Wilma, of Loves Park, Ill., and Walter Russell Dudley, and his wife, Flo, of Bonnie, Ill.; several nieces and nephews; and a cousin, Mary Claire Behr, of Clinton.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers and sisters, Alice, Irvan, Nina, James, Gladys, Joyce and Harold, and his son-in-law, Jerry Brown.

Source: Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA
Date: December 17, 2003
Submitted by: Robert W. Loman