Homer France Fowler

HOLIDAY, Fla. -- Homer France Fowler, 89, of Holiday, Fla., formerly of Seneca, died Wednesday, Sept. 24, at Menorah Manor in St. Petersburg, Fla. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Osborne-Nelson Funeral Home in Seneca with the Rev. Thomas Bourke officiating. Burial will be in Mount Hope Cemetery in Seneca. Visitation will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home. He was born Oct. 27, 1918, in Holliday, Ill., to Homer and Katie (Alsop) Fowler. He married Sadie Bennett on July 17, 1945, in Morris. She died May 15, 1985. He was a truck driver for Tri-State Motor Transit in Seneca for more than 30 years, retiring in 1983. In his early years he worked for the Civil Conservation Corporation in Marseilles and later for the Joliet Arsenal and E.I. DuPont in Seneca. He was a Teamsters member. Survivors include four daughters, Marilyn (Red) Williams of Texas, Sherron Mondy and Bonnie (Tom) Peterson, both of Seneca, and Phyllis (Graham) Huffman of Dixon; one son, Terry (Judie) Fowler of Clearwater, Fla.; one stepdaughter, Nancy (Mike) Blackley of Holiday; 19 grandchildren; 37 great-grandchildren; seven great-great-grandchildren; three sisters, Doris (Rick) Doty of Kentucky, Zella Slaffer of Marseilles and Vera Bootle of Morris; and two brothers, Ronald (Louella) Fowler of Florida and James (Pam) Fowler of Mahomet. He was preceded in death by his three wives, Eleen, Sadie and Margaret Fowler; a son in infancy; four sisters, Patricia Gumm and Sandra Black and two in infancy; and two brothers, Marvin "Mike" Fowler and one in infancy. Pallbearers will be Tom, Christopher and Matthew Peterson, Christopher and James Fowler and Brandon Babcock.