Ionia County MI Archives Obituaries.....Doty, Willard March 1, 2004 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Marilyn Ransom mlnransom@chartermi.net May 15, 2010, 7:22 pm The Ionia Sentinel-Standard, date unknown Willard “Bill” Doty, age 81, passed away on Monday, March 1, 2004 after a brief illness. He was born January 23, 1923 the son of Max Fielding and Marion Patterson Doty. He graduated from Belding High School and served in WWII in the U.S. Air Force. He was a member of Air Transport Command at Azores Island. At the end of the war he married his first wife, Donna Warner and they had three children. He retired from General Motors in 1985 after 35 years as a skilled tradesman. He was a faithful member in many organizations including: Life member of American Legion Post #37 (served as Post Commander several times and District Commander), Grand Chef de Gar of the 40/8, Masonic Blue Lodge of Belding #355, Eastern Star, Knights Templer #11 (commander three times), Chapter #23 of the Royal Arch Masons, Portland Council #23, White Shrine of Jerusalem, Saladin Temple Shrine, Scottish Right Valley of Grand Rapids, the Moose, and the V.F.W.. He was proud to be a 32nd Degree Mason and he received the Meritorious Service award, the Golden Spurs award, the Legion of Honor, Mason of the Year award, and many other recognitions for his lifetime of dedicated service. He was on the American Legion Children’s Home Board and helped build both the Ionia and Belding Masonic Lodges. He was also a member of the Mayflower Society and the Ionia Elks. He was also committed to the Shriners Children’s Hospital. He was never a member in name only, always committing himself to the purposes of every group he belonged to and counting himself lucky to have the friendship of people from all over the country that he served with. Bill was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Arloa (Jerry) Whitford. He is survived and will be greatly missed by his wife, Iola; children, Kortne (Lee) Lampman of Ionia, Sue (Jerry) Heft of Sand Lake, Max (Nancy) of Ionia; 7 grandchildren; 7 great grandchildren; brothers, Stanley (Shirley) Doty and LaVern (Louise) Doty; sisters, Jean Kroes and Peggy Lawrence; many nieces and nephews. The Funeral Service will be conducted by the Rev. Kenneth Harger, Pastor of Shiloh Community Church at 1:00 p.m. Thursday, March 4, 2004 at the Schrauben- Lehman Funeral Home Cook Chapel, 220 Rich St., Ionia. Interment will follow at Woodard Lake Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. Wednesday. For those desiring, memorial contributions may be made to the Belding Masonic Lodge, the 40/8 Voiture #1420, or to the Shriners Children’s Hospital, in memory of Mr. Willard "Bill" Doty. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/ionia/obits/d/doty4220nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/mifiles/ File size: 3.1 Kb