William "Bill" Wearn III

Posted 8/16/02

Funeral services for William "Bill" Henry Wearn III, 79, were held Tuesday, Aug. 13 at St. Maryís Catholic Church in Milaca with the Rev. Charles Kunkel, OSC officiating.

Burial was in the church cemetery. The Hansen-Hayes American Legion Post 178 provided the honor guard and pallbearers.

Arrangements were by the Peterson-Johnson Funeral Home in Milaca.

Mr. Wearn died Saturday, Aug. 10, 2002, in Buffalo, Minn.

He was born July 13, 1923 to William II and Margaret (Linthicum) Wearn in Charlotte, N.C. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 and earned battle stars in France and Germany. He was honorably discharged on March 14, 1946. He married Jean E. Hobbs in 1948 in Ringgold, Ga. Bill graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1950. He was commissioned as a Reserve Medical Officer during the Korean War. The couple moved from Tennessee to Minnesota in 1950 and Bill worked as a microbiologist at the University of Minnesota, and in 1951 started working for Coca Cola Co. Bill retired from Coca Cola as a district manager in 1971. For a short time he had worked for Montgomery Ward in Minneapolis. Bill was a member of the American Legion and a lifetime member of Veterans of Foreign Wars.

His hobbies included fishing, hunting, flying as a licensed pilot and gardening. His greatest pleasure was maintaining a nature log on the farm for 25 years. Abstracts from these were printed in the Freshwater Foundations weather guide calendar for many years as well as in a national magazine. He received the Northwest Sportsman Achievement Award for Mille Lacs County in 1979.

He is survived by his wife, Jean; son, Bill Wearn Jr. and wife Kelly of Chanhassen; daughters, Betty Keppel and husband Mark of Minneapolis, Margaret Mathison and husband Roger of Milaca; 4 grandchildren, Lee Whitney and wife Julie, Erik Mathison, Katie Wearn and Madison Keppel and great-grandson, Alex.