Alex E. Darting

OBITUARY: Alex E. "Pete" Darting



Alex Edward "Pete" Darting, 87, Rossville, died Sat, March 1, 2008, at Midland Hospice House..



Before he retired Pete was a mail carrier in rural Pottawatomie County and a referee for various high school sporting events for many years. He sold insurance for Western Southern Life for 20 years.



The son of John Cleafes and Ella Nora Boyles Darting, Alex was born May 25, 1920, in Jackson County. He graduated from Holton High School in 1938 and enlisted in the Army. He served in the 2nd Infantry during World War II and spent part of the war as a member of one of Gen. Eisenhower's personal guard units. After the war he owned and operated a filling station and restaurant in Rossville before moving to Cleburne, where he drove a school bus and was the school custodian. He married Maude Lenora Andrick on June 4, 1943, in Topeka. She died in 2000. Their daughter, Donna Jean, died in 1957. He was preceded in death by two brothers, Bert and Cleafes, two half-brothers, John and Lawrence, and 5 half-sisters, Nancy, Rose, Viva, Goldie and Cornelia. He is survived by his three sons, Kenneth, Silver Lake, Dennis, Baldwin City, and Steven, Topeka: 8 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.



Funeral services will be at 1:00 PM, Mon., March 3, 2008, at Penwell-Gabel Parker-Price Chapel, 245 NW Independence, Topeka. Jimmie Lillard Post #31 of the American Legion will conduct military honors at Rossville Cemetery. Pete will lie in state after 3:00 PM, Sun., at the funeral chapel where the family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Memorial contributions may be made to the Pete Darting Scholarship Fund c/o U.S. Bank, P.O. Box 611, Rossville, KS 66533.