Stanley F. Valley

Stanley F. Valley, 95, of Carterville, passed away Sunday, November 4, 2018, at Century Assisted Living in Carbondale.

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, November 10, 2018, at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Marion with Pastor Mark Surburg officiating. Entombment will be in Egyptian Memorial Gardens in Energy. Military rites will be accorded by Herrin V.F.W. and American Legion Post, Carterville American Legion Post and the Air Force Honors Team. Visitation will be from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., Saturday, at the church.

Stan was born on October 18, 1923, in Woden, Iowa, to Ray and Blanche (Hanson) Valley. He married Vivian B. Stott on January 16, 1945, in Britt, Iowa. They spent 67 years together before her passing on August 6, 2012.

He is survived by his daughters, Judy Barnes of Durham, North Carolina and Kathy Stokesberry of Carterville; son, Terry Valley of Onalaska, Wisconsin; grandson, Staff Sgt. William Paul (Doris) Waide of Germany; great-grandsons, Niklas, Noah and Henrick Waide; brother, Charles (Yolanda) Valley; sister, JoAnn Longerbone; and several nieces and nephews.

Stan was preceded in death by his parents; wife; brothers, Jim and Ivan "Bud"; and sisters, Hazel "Sissy", Charlotte, and Eva Ruth.

He honorably served our country in the U.S.  Army Air Corps during WWII, serving 530th Fighter Squadron, the Flying Tigers, overseas in China, Burma and India.

Stan worked in the printing industry most of his life, eventually becoming the editor of the Carterville Herald newspaper in 1959, where he wrote a weekly editorial. He enjoyed writing fiction as well, and also was creative in painting and photography. Before retiring, he worked many years at the printing department of Southern Illinois University, first as a pressman and later as a photolithographer. He also had his own printing business for a time, providing wedding invitations and other similar printing.

He enjoyed bowling and the physical activity of his own hobby farm in later years, growing non-hybrid corn and harvesting the small acreage by hand, with help from family and friends. That hobby farm was the realization of long-held dream, no doubt the product of having been raised in the heavily agriculture climate of rural Iowa.

Stan had an eye for the beauty of God's world, capturing some of that beauty in his photography, especially of flowers, which he greatly enjoyed. Even something as simple as the quiet beauty of tall prairie grass swaying in the wind did not escape his notice and appreciation. He once remarked while the houses passed by while driving that there was a story to be told for each house in the distance. There was far more to Stan than was easily seen from the outside, and those who knew him were privileged when he tried to share those deeper inner callings of the heart, difficult as that profound endeavor is for us human beings: "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy." Proverbs 14:10

The love he showed for his family and others was a true blessing. He is greatly missed. But we have this encouragement from his God and our God, the God of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: "Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." 1Ths 4:13-14

"The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death." Is 57:1-2

Riggin-Pillatsch & Burke Funeral Home in Carterville is in charge of the arrangements.

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