In loving memory of

Arthur Wayne Sterrett
September 16, 1932 - July 9, 2018

WAYNE STERRETT
MUSCATINE, Iowa -- Arthur Wayne Sterrett, 85, of Muscatine, Iowa died July 9, 2018, in JPO Retirement Home, Dalzell, Ill.

A memorial open house will be 4:30 until 7 p.m. on Saturday, July 14, 2018, at the Ralph J. Wittich-Riley-Freers Funeral Home. Memorials may be directed to Alzheimer's Association in memory of Jane Sterrett. Burial of ashes will be Monday at Emerson, Missouri. Hurst Funeral Home, La Salle, Ill., also assisted the family.

Mr. Sterrett was born Sept. 16, 1932, in Burns, Wyoming, to Sydney and Lavonia (Brinkley) Sterrett. He married Jane Clark on June 15, 1960, in Emerson Christian Church.

His parents moved the family from Egbert, Wyo., to Ewing, Mo., near the end of the Dust Bowl era. His father's professions as an educator and coach and as a Methodist minister resulted in the family living in many towns in northeast Missouri and eastern Iowa, including Garrison, Atalissa and Mount Pleasant in Iowa. He graduated from Auxvasse (Mo.) High School. After being drafted into the U.S. Army and serving in Germany during the Korean War, he received his bachelor's degree in education and master's in education administration from Northeast Missouri State University. He also studied during summers at Illinois State University and Loyola University Chicago.

He taught social studies and history and coached baseball and basketball in Philadelphia, Mo. He held similar positions for nine years at Ashland, Ill., where he also served as principal and in the 1968 as superintendent.

He came to Muscatine Community College as a counselor in 1969 and became the head of student services. When the college needed more women's sports because of Title IX equality rules, he coached the softball team. He maintained counseling duties, became assistant dean of student services, managed the student center, advised the student senate, set up a student development program, received the Eastern Iowa Community College District Student Development Achievement Award, led intramural programs and taught courses.

Following a stroke, he retired in 1995 after 26 years at MCC. In retirement, he published a book on Missouri and Iowa small-school high school basketball teams, "Little Giants." He also worked on manuscripts on baseball history, including the St. Louis Browns.

He is survived by his daughter, Linda (Michael) Weaver of Herndon, Va.; one son, Craig Sterrett (Debbie Kunkel) of Peru, Ill.; one grandson, Matthew Wayne Weaver of Colorado; a brother, Ralph (Charlotte) Sterrett of Streator, Ill.; six nieces and three nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife on Feb. 16, 2016.

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