Melvin Lee Pekrul

Melvin Lee Pekrul, 92, passed peacefully in his sleep in the early hours of Veteran’s Day 2014. He was the oldest son of Harry and Melinda (Buller) Pekrul and born at home during a blizzard in Goltry, Okla, on March 8, 1922. He was raised with his large Mennonite Family on a wheat farm. He was a star football player in High School and finished College in Kansas. He enlisted i

n the Army Air Corps during WWII, then re-upped into the US Army to serve two years in occupied Japan after the war ended.

He married Mary Francis Wallace in 1945 and they adopted a son, Michael in 1960. He was widowed in 1986, and lost his son in 1999. Melvin retired from ArkLa Oil and Gas after 37 years of service in Gonzales and Lockhart. He loved his golf and played regularly at the Lockhart State Park course. He was a Past President of the Evening Lion’s Club, the VFW and the American Legion.

Melvin married Clydene Poland Pekrul in 2003 and they made their home in Lockhart where she will continue to live.

He is survived by one sister, Bette Boutwell, in Oklahoma, and by his step-children, Glenda Davis (deceased), Donna (Davis) McQuillan and Shaun, Barton Davis and Sharon, and Rilee Davis; eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews and cousins in Oklahoma.

Services will be held on Monday, Nov. 24, at 2 p.m. at McCurdy Funeral Home in Lockhart with Rabbi Donald Maher officiating. There will be no graveside service.