Carl Funk

Carl Lewis Funk, 90, a lifelong citizen of Kansas, passed away on Saturday, July 5, 2014 at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Carl was born May 17, 1924 in Sedan, KS to Benjamin J. Funk and Lora Blanche Hammond Funk, and was baptized in the 1st Baptist Church in Sedan. He attended kindergarten through high school in Sedan and really enjoyed the fact that his birthday and the start of summer vacation frequently coincided. During his childhood in Sedan, Carl also acquired a lifelong love of music and even paid for piano lessons using money from his paper route.
After graduating from Sedan High School in May 1942, Carl enrolled at Coffeyville Junior College, but WWII interrupted his college studies. Carl enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves in Coffeyville, KS in October 1942 and was activated into the U.S. Army in March 1943. After basic training, Carl said he volunteered to be a paratrooper because he could have the thrill of jumping out of planes while getting an extra $50/month of “jump pay.”
Carl was assigned to the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team, with whom he fought in five battles in the South Pacific, including the famous jump on Corrigedor. He was wounded by Japanese mortar on the Island of Negros on April 11, 1945 and was honorably discharged in November 1945. Carl received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart and other awards and citations for his military service.
After the Army, Carl returned to his college studies, earning a B.S. in Music Education in May 1949 from Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia. He taught music for three years at Kingsdown, Kansas, and in 1952 accepted a music teaching position at Wilmore, Kansas, where he met his future wife, Myra Josephine Price, who he always called “Jo”. Carl and Jo were married in August 1955 and contributed five children to the baby boomer generation.
Carl spent 40 years teaching instrumental and vocal music to elementary and secondary students in the Kansas public school system, and retired from the Coffeyville School District in May 1989. After retirement, Carl helped his daughter Cindy and son-in-law Mike Myers establish a popcorn business in Colorado, and enjoyed playing the piano, taking his five grandchildren on tractor rides on the farm in Kansas and watching the Kansas City Chiefs and KU Jayhawks on television.
During the twilight of his long and active life, Carl suffered from increasing dementia and was cared for at home by his wife Jo. A cherished experience that Carl had during this time was going on an Honor Flight with a group of Kansas WWII veterans to the nation’s capital in September 2010. In late 2013, Carl moved into a small memory care home in Ohio, near his daughter Carla and her family.
Carl was preceded in death by his parents, Ben and Lora. He is survived by his siblings, Wayne (spouse, Mary Joyce) and Margaret, and by Myra, his wife of almost 60 years, their children Jeff (spouse, Agnes Weber), Melodie (spouse, Steven Henderson), Cynthia (spouse, Mike Myers), Carla (spouse, Tom Wittum) and Dan, five grandchildren, Kelsi Wittum, Chris Wittum, Renna Wittum, Mackenzie Myers and Stuart Myers, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A military memorial service will be held on Friday, July 25 at 1:30 p.m. at Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, 395 Biddle Boulevard, Fort Leavenworth, KS. His family will host a celebration of Carl’s life on Saturday, July 26 at the Methodist Church in Liberty, KS from 2-4 p.m.
The family suggests memorials in tribute to Carl’s life to the Honor Flight Network (www.honorflight.org, 937-521-2400) or the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org, 800-272-3900).