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Edwin F. Bock

1905 - 1996

Clear Lake, IA - Edwin F. Bock, 91, of Clear Lake, died Monday (April 1, 1996) at North Iowa Mercy Health Center, Mason City. Memorial services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the United Methodist Church in Clear Lake, with the Rev. Frederick Lewis and the Rev. David Gobeli officiating, with Masonic services by the Clear Lake and Garner Masonic Lodges.

Burial of the cremains will be in Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City. There will be no visitation. Cataldo Funeral Home, Garner, is in charge of arrangements. The family asks that floral gifts be omitted and memorials be given in Edwin Bock's name to the Clear Lake United Methodist Church.

Edwin Frederick Bock, 91, was born in Klemme on Jan. 24, 1905, to John and Naska (Wille) Bock. He graduated from the Garner High School in 1923, riding the M & St. L train to and from Klemme. He attended the University of Iowa (1926-27) after teaching in country schools. In 1927, he began his business career as a tank wagon agent for Standard Oil Company before beginning Bock Oil Company in Garner in 1928.

He married Lena Belle McGinnis in Kellerton on June 10, 1931. In 1941, he established the Bock Transport Company which served gas stations and oil jobbers in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota. In 1948, he added a Pontiac agency to his business interests. During World War II, Bock was appointed by President Roosevelt to the National Petroleum and Tire Rationing Advisory Board. He was regional director of the National Oil Jobbers Council, member of the Mid-West Petroleum Carriers Association, the Iowa Oil Jobbers Association, the National Automobile Dealers Association, the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association and the Iowa Motor Truck Association. Bock served 18 years on the Garner City Council, was secretary of the Garner Rotary Club, president of the Garner Chamber of Commerce, was twice elected as president of the Iowa Independent Oil Jobbers Association, was three times Past Master of Masonic Bethel Lodge No. 319 and was a Scottish Rite Shriner. He kept his pilot's license for over 50 years, flying regularly out of the Mason City Airport until he helped found the Garner air Field. He flew to northern Minnesota often to fish and enjoyed hunting in Iowa and Wyoming. His life was one of commitment to his family and his community. He was a member of the United Methodist Church.

Survivors include his wife, Lena Belle Bock of Clear Lake; two daughters, Mary Margaret (Fred) Bushnell of Stillman Valley, Ill., and Virginia (Robert) Lemire of Lincoln, Mass.; a grand-daughter, Elise Lemire; five grandsons, Robert Bock Lemire, Frederic R. Bushnell III, John Bock Bushnell, Cade Jay Bushnell and Edwin G. Bushnell; a great-granddaughter, Grace Bushnell; two great-grandsons, Thomas and Ross Bushnell; and a brother, Mitchell Bock and his wife, Ida Mae, of Klemme.

He was preceded in death by his parents; and a sister, Stella Burr, on July 26, 1991.

source: Mason City Globe Gazette, 3 Apr 1996

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