M. Joe Stiff

M. Joe Stiff Services: 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 10, West Liberty United Methodist Church. Visitation: 4-8 p.m. today, Henderson-Barker Funeral Home, West Liberty. WEST LIBERTY, Iowa #45;- M. Joe Stiff, 67, West Liberty, died Monday, Nov. 7, 2005, at his home after a brief illness. The Rev. DeLane Wright will officiate the services. Burial will be at Oak Ridge Cemetery, West Liberty. Memorials may be made to Iowa City Hospice. Mr. Stiff was born Feb. 8, 1938, in Rochester, the son of A.C. 'Ace' and Elsie Christian Stiff. He married Velma Stafford on March 23, 1958, in Rochester. He was a 1956 graduate of Springdale High School. He worked at Wendling Quarries, Moscow, for 27 years. He helped Ron Alpen build a Ford dealership in West Liberty; worked for Muscatine County for two years; and then went to work as Public Works director for the City of West Liberty for seven years. In 1994, he and his wife started Joe's Trucking and Backhoe LLC, West Liberty, which he operated until his retirement in 2001. They also owned and operated a cabin area with 20 rental cabins on the Cedar River from 1976-97. He worked for the IDOT, pushing snow in the winters of 2003 and 20...[more]

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He was very active in the community, where he was proud to have been a Weblos leader for 10 years, a member of the West Liberty City Council, Chamber of Commerce and school board. He was a member of Rotary for 27 years and a member of the Lions Club since 1998. His passion was running heavy equipment. Thanks to Ken Morrison, he was able to do that right up until September 2005. Survivors include his wife; three daughters, Myrna Kirkpatrick and husband, Mike, and Tracy Peters and husband, Scott, all of West Liberty, and Kara of Muscatine; a son, Aaron of Kansas City, Mo.; three brothers, Dale and wife, Emogene, Bill and wife, Jeannine, and Don and wife, Sharon, all of Tipton; a sister, Lela Slach and husband, Edwin, of Iowa City; six grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers, Myron and Leon.