David Barry Moranville

David Barry Moranville

West Des Moines

David Barry Moranville, 83, died at his home in West Des Moines on May 30, 2015. A memorial service will be held 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 11 at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church in West Des Moines. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Timothy's Episcopal Church or Unity Point at Home Hospice. McLaren's Funeral Chapel is assisting with arrangements.

Barry, the youngest of five children of William and Nella Moranville, grew up in Jefferson, Iowa. He graduated from Jefferson High School with the class of 1950 and then enlisted in the Air Force. After military service, he earned a Bachelors Degree from the University of Iowa and a J.D. from Drake University. During the 1960s, he practiced law and worked for the state of Iowa as a Deputy Workers' Compensation Commissioner. He returned to Drake University and earned a Masters Degree in English Literature and, subsequently, a Ph. D. in English Literature from Kent State University in 1972. In Kent, he met and married Sharelle Byars. He was a member of the English Department faculties of Black Hills State College for one year and William Penn College for five years before he returned to the law in 1977. He retired from the law firm Moranville and Jackson in 2000. In retirement, he pursued his interests of reading, gardening, and spending time with Sharelle's family in southern Illinois, where his ashes will be interred in late August.

Barry is survived by his wife, Sharelle; a daughter, Abigail; six grandchildren; many beloved nieces and nephews; and a large southern Illinois family to whom he also belonged. He is preceded in death by his parents and his siblings, Evelyn Moranville Woodward, Mary Moranville Bess, Robert C. Moranville, and Douglas W. Moranville.