Surnames: Gamel, Buskirk, Wegner, Stangl

----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood Co., Wis.) Saturday, March 1, 2008

Gamel, Lester A. (16 June 1918 - 28 Feb. 2008)

Lester A. Gamel

GRANTON -- Lester A. Gamel, 89, of Granton, died on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008, at the House of the Dove in Marshfield.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 8, 2008, at the Gesche Funeral Home in Neillsville, which is assisting Lester's family with arrangements.

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----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood Co., Wis .) Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Lester A. Gamel

GRANTON -- Lester A. Gamel, 89, of Granton, died Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008, at The House of Dove Hospice in Marshfield.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 8, at the Gesche Funeral Home in Neillsville. The family will begin receiving guests at 10:15 a.m. An Honor Guard presentation will conclude the service.

A living memorial is planned for planting in spring.

Lester was born on June 16, 1918, in Holt County, Neb., to Harvey Sanford and Minnie Cora (Buskirk) Gamel. In 1941 Lester joined the armed forces to serve his country during World War II and became a member of the 32nd Infantry Regiment, 7th Division. Departing from Fort Leavenworth, Kan, in July 1941, his mission rooted from Hawaii and stemmed into the South Seas. Wounded in June of 1945, awarded a Purple Heart and ranked as staff sergeant, his commission ended honorably. Lester saw combat in the Marshall, Philippines, Awautu, Aleutians, Okinawa and Kyukyus Islands. Lester married Evelyn June Wegner on March 2, 1946. He worked the stockyards in Ewing, Neb., and eventually became a full-time gas transport truck driver. In 1956, he moved his family and ran a dairy farm south of Neillsville. Lester worked for Tesmer and Geier Construction and Ellis & Volz Cranberry. For three years Lester also worked for Sullivan Construction in Wisconsin Rapids until his health began to fail due to an on-the-job accident. He returned to independent pulping and cutting until his second stroke forced full retirement in 1990 at the age of 72.

He is survived by his wife, Evelyn, currently residing at the Memorial Health and Rehabilitation Center in Neillsville; daughters, Carol Gamel and Susan Stangl; two brothers, Edward and Sanford; and three sisters, Irene, Etta and Shirley; six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.