Claude Leroy Dexter

CENTRAL CITY - Claude Leroy Dexter, 84, of Central City, died Wednesday, April 16, 2003, at the Central City Care Center.

Services are 2 p.m. Tuesday at the United Methodist Church in Central City with the Rev. Joy Savage officiating. Burial will be in the Bureau Cemetery by the Pierce Chapel Church near Clarks.

Visitation will be 5-8 p.m. Monday at Solt Funeral Home in Central City.

Mr. Dexter was born on Sept. 10, 1918, near Clarks to Claude and Pearle Belle (Martin) Dexter. He attended Pleasant Hill grade school and graduated from Clarks High School in 1936.

He married Parnella Rose Wallace on Dec. 24, 1939, in Clarks. They began farming east of Silver Creek in 1939. In 1941, they moved south of Clarks where they farmed and started a cattle-feeding operation in 1964. In 1966, they moved to the Henry Stubbe farm east of Clarks and in 1973 they purchased their farm eight miles north of Central City. They retired from farming in 1983 but continued to live on the farm until moving into Merrick Manor in Central City in 1999 and then to the Central City Care Center in 2002.

He was a member of the church, the Masonic Lodge, the Tehama Shriners, and the Order of the Eastern Star. He had been a past master of the Solar Lodge 134, served on the Board of Directors of the Merrick Foundation, and was a former Merrick County Farmer of the Year.

He was an avid gardener and golfer, and after his retirement he enjoyed meeting his friends at the coffee table.

Survivors include two sons, Jerry (JoAnn) Dexter of Waverly, and Jon (Sharon) Dexter of Fairbury; one daughter, Kathleen (Bobby) Hall of Bryan, Texas; one sister, Ruth (Don) Parker of Denver; a sister-in-law, Elvira Dexter of Central City; seven grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his wife on March 9, 2003; his parents; and one brother, Gerald Dexter.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.soltfh.com.