Dick Purdue of rural Kell died on May 6, 2023.
He was born on September 25, 1928, near Kell. He was the son of Earl and Jessie (Vursell) Purdue. In 1963 in Springfield, IL he was married to Doris Smith, by her father, Judge Clem Smith. She preceded him in death in 1993.
Purdue attended grade school at St. James in Fayette County and Panhandle one-room school in rural Kell. He attended Kell High School and Salem Community High School, Sendai Army School, Parachute Jump Master School, Gliderman’s School, and Airborne Transport School. He went on to attend Centralia Township Junior College, SIUC and held 3 degrees from the University of Illinois. At age 17 he volunteered for the United States Army Paratroopers and served in WWII Japan. He later worked in the territory of Alaska as a welder, teamster painter, and Superintendent of the Matanuska Valley Famer’s Coop. He was a vocational AG teacher in the Columbia, IL School District for 9 years. He was the Superintendent of Training Camps for the Illinois Youth Commission and served as Superintendent at Brownstown Unit District in Brownstown, IL. Following that he was a full-time livestock farmer for over 55 years near Kell. He served as the Haines Township Supervisor for 24 years.
During WWII, as a teacher, while still on the home farm, he did seasonal, part-time work as an oil field “roughneck” swamper and teamster for G.Roy Young, L.R. McNeil and Lloyd Turner. Dick also hauled the Globe-Democrat Newspaper out of St. Louis for LM& O Motor Freight. He also worked at the Hollywood Candy Company, Salem Sanitary Dairy, and Fabick Caterpillar of Salem. In earlier years, he pulled threshing machines for Waldo Boyles and combines for P.C. Fyke. He also worked at local orchards for Ira Dalton and Ross Morton.
Dick Purdue is survived by his daughter, Penny Purdue and Everett Kocian, and his grandson, Earl Purdue Kocian of Kell. His sister, Suellen Johnston, and brother-in-law Dr. Jeff Johnson of Paducah, KY. Mr. Purdue is also survived by his nieces and nephews and their families. John Johnson, Jennifer Johnson, Dr. Polly Lebuhn all of Paducah, and David Johnson of Louisville, KY.
He was preceded in death by his wife, his parents, his brother, John, and a granddaughter.
Graveside services for Dick Purdue will be held Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at the Purdue Cemetery in Kell, IL at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Purdue Cemetery Fund. L.R. Osborn and Son Funeral Home of Kell is honored to serve the Purdue Family.
