Mark L. Umble

Mark L. Umble, 82, of Prairie City, died Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, at Park Ridge Nursing and Rehab in Pleasant Hill. A funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16 at the Prairie City United Methodist Church, with burial following at Vandalia Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15 at the church. Memorials may be directed to the Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church or the Prairie City Ambulance. Condolences may be left for the family at www.coburnfuneralhomes.com.

Mark was born on the farm south of Monroe, Nov. 3, 1932, to Earl and Ina (Honnold) Umble. He died Sept. 10, 2015, due to complications from a brain tumor.

Mark started picking corn at the age of eight. He did the down rows because everybody else was taller.

He graduated from Monroe High School in 1951, and worked at Maytag in Newton. He married Betty Jo (Osborn) Umble June 6, 1952. The following February, Uncle Sam sent him greetings and salutations and he proudly served. Two government-issue boys followed 12 months apart at Fort Knox and one in lowa two years later. As soon as he was discharged from the Army, he came home to south of Prairie City, and farming became his life’s work.

He instilled a love of the farm and agriculture that continues through all three boys. He was so proud of each and every one of his grandchildren and loved when the great-grands would visit.

Mark served 10 years on the Prairie City School Board. The new high school, now PCM Middle School, was built during his tenure. Mark was full of fun and had a nickname for everybody. Every spring the kitchen sink was full of morels. Every time Betty made a skillet-full, she would eat one and Mark would eat the rest. With he and Betty’s many friends there have been decades of get-togethers, hundreds of pot-lucks, thousands of wonderful nights spent eating out with friends. Through the years there have been a number of calamities. Some families send a member to law school, the Umbles always have needed a family member in the insurance business. And it didn’t matter what was on fire or what health problem required an ambulance on the way, to Mark it was “a piece of cake.”

Mark loved to farm, working in the shop and climbing up and down into the tractors until the very day the tumor took his legs. He will be so greatly missed by his wife Betty of 63 years, his sons and their families and all who knew him.

Preceding Mark in death were his parents, Earl and Ina Umble; and his brother, Roger Umble.

Those left to honor his memory are his wife Betty Umble; son Mark (Carol) Umble and their children, Nick Umble and Amber Umble; son Joe (Connie) Umble and their children, Levi (Amber) Umble and Lacey (Rusty) Gulbranson; son Dan (Melanie) Umble and their children, Brad (Becci) Schaefer, Katie (Teddy) Hawley and Derrick Hoodjer. Great-grandchildren are Brookelyn Umble, Haylee and Hayden Umble, Jasper and Jade Gulbranson, Amelie Schaefer and baby Hawley on the way.

Mark is also survived by his sister Karen (Don) Mooty; brother-in-law Don (Marilyn) Osborn; and sisters-in-laws Virginia Umble, Corinne Osborn and Beverly Osborn; and many nieces and nephews.