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Mikeal Vernon Franks
July 6, 1922 – March 25, 2018
Mikeal Vernon Franks, 95, of Anamosa, died Sunday, March 25, 2018 at Woodlands Park, Anamosa.
Funeral Services will be at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 29, 2018, at the Oakland Church of the Nazarene, Cedar Rapids. Burial will be in Springville Cemetery, Springville. The family greeted friends from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 28, 2018, at the Goettsch Funeral Home, Anamosa, and again at the church from 12:30 p.m. to the time of service.
Mikeal was born July 6, 1922, in Colesburg, the son of Mikeal and Margaret (Shappell) Franks. He went to school in Elk Port. He served his country in the Marine Corps during World War II. Later, he used the G. I. Bill to attend Upper Iowa University, Fayette.
He married Whitney Dodd on December 31, 1952, in Los Angeles, California. She died in 1974. He later married Dorothy Hills on April 23, 1994. She died in 2016. He worked in a variety of occupations during his life. He was a professional photographer in Fayette and a machine repairman at Wilson Meat Packing, Cedar Rapids. He worked for Gaines Gravel operating a dump truck and later worked as a mail room supervisor at Stamat’s Publishing Company in Cedar Rapids.
In 1987, he retired and started working as a delivery driver for an RV company in Elkhart, Indiana. He was a private piolet who loved flying and owned his own aircraft. He loved photography, and drove the bus for the Oakland Church of the Nazarene. He enjoyed traveling. He was a simple man who loved spending time with people, especially his grandchildren, whom he spoiled.
He is survived by his children, Daniel (Deb), Republic, Missouri, Kitty (Marcus), Anamosa, Jerry, Cedar Rapids, Tim (Elaina), Naples, Florida, John (Sarah), Redding, Pennsylvania, Steve, Cedar Rapids, Laura, Cedar Rapids, and Rachel, Olathe, Kansas; twenty-one grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren; a brother, Chester (Darlene), Hawkeye, Iowa; and a sister, Margaret Louise Hare, Downers Grove, Illinois. In addition to his wives, he was preceded in death by a son, Mikeal; a daughter and son-in-law, Emily and Larry Sherman; and his brothers, Donald, Chuck and John.
“I hope that when I go, I leave behind people who are better off for knowing me.”

Submitted by: Janet A. Brandt
Source: Anamosa Journal-Eureka, Anamosa, Iowa, 29 March 2018

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