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Virgil Ray Oltman - August 13, 2001

Virgil Ray Oltman, 80, of 306 N. Walnut St., Minonk, died at 2:15 a.m. Monday (Aug. 13, 2001) at BroMenn Regional Medical Center, Normal.

His funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Minonk, the Rev. Donald Henderson officiating. Burial will be in St. Mary's Cemetery, Streator, with military rites by Minonk American Legion Post 142. Visitation will be for one hour before the service at the church. Solon & Baker Funeral Home, Streator, is in charge of arrangements.

Memorials may be made to Minonk Ambulance Squad or St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Minonk.

Mr. Oltman was born Aug. 13, 1921, in Benson, a son of John and Pearl Newlon Oltman. He married Bernadette Bakalar April 16, 1947, in Streator. She survives.

Other survivors include daughter Lynn Ann (Alan) Aanerud, Mesquite, Texas; daughter Kathleen Leigh (Kevin) Cunningham, Fox River Grove; daughter Jana M. Kiefer, Bloomington; son Gregory Ray (Candy) Oltman, Barrington; daughter Jerilyn K. Oltman, Edenton, N.C.; son Michael Patrick Oltman, Minonk; sister Patricia Dalziel, New Lenox; sister Fran (Lester) Hupprich, Morton; sister-in-law Carolyn Oltman, South Holland; sister-in-law Jan Oltman, Coral Gables, Fla.; sister-in-law Ruth Oltman, Crete; sister Rachel Seggerman, Chenoa; and 13 grandchildren.

His parents and three brothers, Bob Oltman, Granville Oltman and James Oltman, preceded him in death.

He farmed west of Minonk for 36 years. He retired in 1983 and moved to Minonk the following year. He was a crop and weather reporter for Doanes Agriculture Association for more than 20 years.

He was a veteran of World War II, serving 39 months in the Army Air Force; 24 months in China; and two months behind enemy lines in Burma.

He served two terms on Tall Oaks Country Club board of directors. He also was elected to two terms on the Minonk-Dana-Rutland school board, serving as president his last year. He served two years on the Mackinaw Valley Special Education board of directors. He was a member of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Minonk, where he served on the church board and various committees during the remodeling of the church in 1963. He was Third Degree member of Knights of Columbus in Minonk and Fourth Degree member of the Bloomington Council. He was a member of American Legion Post 142 in Minonk.