Obituary of William Madison Furnish

William Madison (Bill) Furnish, Jr., died peacefully November 9, 2007. He was born in Tipton, Iowa on August 17, 1912, to William Madison Furnish, Sr., and Jean Minto Swartzlender. Bill Furnish graduated from Tipton High School and Tipton Junior College. He continued at the University of Iowa, where he earned his B.S., M.S. and finally a Ph.D. in Geology in 1938. While at Iowa he met and married Eula Berniece (Becky) Beck in 1938. He began teaching Geology at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater in 1940, but during the war years he worked as a petroleum geologist in the oilfields of Texas and Louisiana, then later for other oil companies in Venezuela and Saudi Arabia before he returned to Iowa City to join the University of Iowa faculty in 1953. He was a distinguished teacher, researcher, editor and naturalist. Just before retirement Bill and Becky built a house on a hill near the Cedar River near Rochester and moved from Iowa City. They lived there for twenty-five years, developing a forest preserve on 123 acres. Its quarry pond served as a swimming hole to sixteen grandchildren, who also learned the basics of the Iowa woodland environment, including fishing, birding, dog-walking, mushrooming, and gathering berries while battling brambles, chiggers and ticks on hikes with Grandpa. After retirement he developed a new career as a collector, researcher and writer about double-barreled shotguns. Bill was very active in Tipton at the First United Church of Christ and in the Cedar County Historical Society. Finally, Bill and Becky moved back to Iowa City, to the Oaknoll Residence Home in 1999, where they enjoyed many new and old friends. His definition of “family” included generations of his students, various neighbors and friends encountered over the course of his life, and the staff at Oaknoll. Bill made all feel welcome. Bill said that God provided him with at least fifteen years more than he had anticipated, and he relished the opportunity that time afforded him to know the next generation as his family continued to grow. To his own children he gave a sense of the power of love, adventure, curiosity and honesty; discipline and an ethic for applying oneself to a task; and an appreciation for God’s world and an active, outdoor life in it. Bill’s beloved Becky, his wife of 67 years, preceded him in death, in 2005. They are survived by their five children, Dale Beck of Tempe AZ, Elizabeth Ann Ford (William) of Iowa City, Sarah Jean Spitzer (John) of Iowa City, James R (Judy) of Rockville MD, and Joseph L. (Darlia Wright) of Benecia CA, plus 16 grandchildren and a growing number of great-grandchildren. Memorial Services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, November 15, 2007, at Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Iowa City and Saturday, November 24th. at 10:00 a.m. at St Andrew Presbyterian Church, where Bill was a member. A memorial fund has been established in Bill’s memory. Online condolences may be sent for his family through the web @www.gayandciha.com. Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service is caring for Bill’s family and his services.