Mahlon Lee Carothers

Mahlon Lee Carothers, age 81, of Council Bluffs, passed away August 19, 2013, at Mercy Hospital.

Mahlon was born at the family farm in Corning, Iowa, on November 11, 1931, the eldest child of Mahlon Willis and Thelma (Lee) Carothers. He attended rural schools in Dog Hollow and Ankeny through the 8th grade and graduated from Corning High School with the class of 1950. Mahlon joined the Navy in March 1951 and was honorably discharged in February 1955. During his service, he was stationed on the U.S.S. Brown, the U.S.S. PF8, and the U.S.S. George K. McKenzie as a radioman. After serving in the military, he resumed farming with his father until moving to the Elliott area in 1963.

On September 14, 1958, he married Evelyn Lawrence and two children were born to this union. The family farmed in the Elliott, Iowa area from 1963 until 1967 when he discontinued farming and moved to Council Bluffs to work for Blue Star Foods and Griffin Pipe in the maintenance department. He began work at American Beef as the maintenance foreman until it's closing in 1975. He then went to Allied Chemical which was later purchased by Arcadian Corp. and retired from there in 1991. After retirement, Mahlon worked part time at Body Tech, Walker Tire, and Epworth United Methodist Church.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Mahlon W. and Thelma Carothers; sisters, Barbara Talmage and Janice Wheeler; brothers-in-law, Jim Talmage and Bud Pollock.

Mahlon is survived by his wife, Evelyn Carothers; son, Mahlon Ernest Carothers and wife, Collette, of Mapleton, Iowa; daughter, Denise Stein and husband, Paul, of Griswold, Iowa; grandsons, Kyle Stein and wife, Jill, of Coralville, Iowa, Bryan Stein and friend, Kaye Lapcewich, of Iowa City, Iowa; granddaughters, Courtney (Carothers) Petersen and husband, Andrew, of Lee's Summit, Mo., Lindsey (Carothers) Flanigan and husband, Alex, of Omaha, Neb.; great granddaughter, Amelia Mae Petersen; and several nieces, nephews, and other relatives.

Visitation will be Friday, from 6 until 8 p.m., at Epworth United Methodist Church, 2447 Avenue B, Council Bluffs. In honor of Mahlon's love for the Hawkeyes, please wear Hawkeyes gear or colors. Funeral services will be Saturday, at 11 a.m., at Epworth United Methodist Church with the Rev. Mark Heath officiating. Interment will follow at Brooks Cemetery in Brooks, Iowa, at 4 p.m. Memorials are suggested to the family for a scholarship to be set up at The University of Iowa. This obituary was originally published in The Daily Nonpareil.