Robert R. Manley

Robert Manley PRESTON, Iowa - Robert R. Manley, Sr., 88, of Preston, died Sunday, Feb. 25, 2001, at Mercy Medical Center in Clinton. Services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. John's Lutheran Church in Preston. The Rev. Karl Wolf of St. John's Lutheran Church will officiate. Burial will be at the Preston Cemetery. Visitation will be from 3-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Tuesday at the Miller-Law-Jones Funeral Home in Preston. Memorials may be made to Mercy Home Care and Hospice or St. John's Lutheran Church in Preston. Mr. Manley was born on Saturday, June 1, 1912, in Iowa City, the son of Ralph and Dora Sievers Manley. He married Holyce E. Stingley on June 28, 1940, in Center Junction. During the 1930s he was known as ''Dusty Keaton'', the bandleader and pianist of a popular regional big band. He received his bachelor's and master's from the University of Iowa. He taught music in Olin and Kalona before serving in the United States Navy during World War II. While teaching at Center Junction he worked on his doctorate in school administration. He was superintendent of schools in Preston Community Schools from 1949 until his retirement in 1977. He loved music, playing the ...[more]

View Full Online Obituary and Tributes

no and attending music concerts. He was the past president of the Jackson County Historical Society and a Civil War buff. He was a member of St. John's Lutheran Church, the Preston Lions Club and the Preston American Legion. Survivors include his wife, Holyce Manley of Preston; one son, Robert R. Manley Jr. and his wife, Mary Jane, of Clinton, Iowa; one daughter, Sarah H. Simpson and her husband Texas, of Muscatine; grandsons, Robert R. Manley III of Muscatine and Ryan Manley of Clinton; one step-granddaughter, Pamela Stadler of Red Oak, Texas; and two step great-grandchildren, Byron and Cheyenne Dempsey of Red Oak. He was preceded in death by his parents, one sister, Ruth Peterson, one granddaughter, Kristin Smrcka, and one step-grandson, Curtis Simpson.