Merrill Condra, 1909-1994

Ad-Express/Iowegian - 24 February 1994

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  Merrill Condra, 84, life-long resident of Numa died Feb. 23, 1994, at the Seymour Care Center.

  He was born July 5, 1909, in Numa, the son of Elmer and Ettie (Sidles) Condra.

  He married Jeanette Morris Dec. 4, 1936, in Unionville, Mo. She preceded him in death Dec. 25, 1980.

  Survivors include a son, James, and his wife, Anne, of Springfield, Ill.; a grandson; two great-grandchildren; a sister, Louise Hunt of Centerville; and a niece.

  He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife.

  He graduated from Numa High School and the Centerville Junior College. He then attended Iowa State College in Ames, completing an automotive course. He attended the Chillicothe School of Business in Chillicothe, Mo. He then opened the Condra Garage on the home place west of Numa. He remained in business there for more than 60 years. He was a member of the Jerome Methodist Church, the Appanoose County Historical Society, the Genealogy Association and the Iowa-Missouri Gas Engine Club.

  Funeral services will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26, at the Lange Funeral Home with the Rev. Louis Flanigan and the Rev. Jim Schweizer officiating. Interment will be in Jerome Cemetery. A visitation will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday at the funeral home.

  A memorial has been established in the Jerome Cemetery and may be left at the funeral home.

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Ad-Express/Iowegian  

Numa Column by Ethel Lira

  Once again, this has been a week of good-byes to old friends and neighbors. Merrill Condra, 84, long-time Numa community resident, died after a lengthy illness at the local hospital. Although Merrill long operated a country type garage at his homestead on the Seymour Highway west of Numa, few were aware of his educational background in this craft.

  His garage was always open, it seemed, to the locals who needed a tune-up to a complete overhaul of their gasoline powered vehicles. Merrill seemed to fix things by the sound as well as the touch and could be counted upon to have them running in a short period so that no work days would be lost because of the lack of an operating vehicle.

  His wife, the former Jeannette Morris, died suddenly in 1980 while on a family Christmas outing and then a few years thereafter Merrill suffered severe medical problems during the Christmas holidays that kept him hospitalized for a period. However, it was just the past several months that he had been incapacitated to the extent he was unable to care for himself and his daily routine.

  He is survived by a son, James, and his family as well as his sister, Louise Hunt, of Centerville. Merrill's spot in the minds and hearts of his Numa-Seymour neighbors will long remain vacant. To his family we say, "He will be greatly missed and we all care."