LEWIS H. CONLEY

SIKESTON -- Retired Col. Lewis H. Conley, 81, died Saturday, Feb. 17, 1996, at the Sikeston Health Care Center.

He was born Sept. 20, 1914, at Sikeston, son of Hester Cutrell Carraway. He and Freda L. Lankford were married Feb. 4, 1940, at Sikeston.

Conley entered the U.S. Army in 1942 and served in Europe during World War II. During that time, he received several awards, including a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart and a World War II victory medal. After 1946, he attended general staff and command school in Kansas. He was then employed by the Missouri National Guard in Cape Girardeau and was transferred to Jefferson City in 1966 as a staff administrator and chief of staff. He became a full colonel on July 3, 1967. He retired in 1974.

Conley was a member of the Trinity Baptist Church in Sikeston. He served on the Sikeston City Council for seven years and was mayor for one year.

Survivors are his wife; two sons, Paul Howard Conley of Olathe, Kan., and Lewis Wesley Conley of Ballwin; a sister, Gladys Higgins of Decatur, Ill.; and five grandchildren.

Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the Nunnelee Funeral Chapel in Sikeston.

Funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at the Trinity Baptist Church. The Rev. Tom Geers will officiate, with burial in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Sikeston. Full military honors will be conducted by the honor guard of American Legion Post 595 at New Madrid.