Winston L. “Rusty” Pendleton passed away, Thursday, February 20, 2020 at the age of 95. Born the youngest of nine children in rural Meta, Missouri, Rusty Pendleton came to St. Albans, Missouri, at the age of 13 with an eighth-grade education, and lots of confidence and hope for the future. High school was not an option back home, due to lack of transportation. Living with his aunt and family, he thrived--laboring full time at St. Albans Farms--caring for the registered dairy cows, showing them at the State Fair, and faithfully sending some of his earnings home to his widowed mother.
Three years later, at a Boy Scout barn dance in St. Albans, he met the one and only love of his life, Dorothy (Dot) Krueger. He was 16. She was 14. A week later, he asked her parents if he could take her to Labadie for another dance. It was a romance that lasted over 79 years until Dot's passing in March 2019.
World War II intervened before they could marry. Rusty enlisted one month after his nineteenth birthday and was sent to Belgium to fight in the Battle of the Bulge at 20. As anti-aircraft gunner, he told of dramatic instances of God's protection from dangerous situations.
Eight months after his safe return in March 1946, Dot and Rusty were married. That same year, they stepped in to raise her two younger brothers, George and Harold Krueger, because both Dot's parents had passed away. In 1949, their wonderful son, Steve, was born.
Rusty's work life was varied, and he relished every opportunity and experience, grateful for the advances he could make each time. A deliveryman on a horse-drawn milk route, a fire towerman for the Conservation Department, a maintenance/engineering worker at Barnes Hospital, where he maintained elevators by learning their sounds and operational quirks. He said he didn't have a BOOK mind, but he had a MECHANICAL mind. When a cancer doctor came to him and said he needed a "smoking machine," Rusty built him a sheet metal box with 50 cigarette holders and a vacuum line to concentrate the nicotine for research.
Rusty eventually became a union carpenter for the bulk of his career, and his co-workers still speak with admiration of his intelligence in finding and sharing smart, efficient shortcuts and workarounds.
He used his GI Bill to get a pilot's license in 1948, and eventually bought a small airplane during the 70s. Retiring early, he enjoyed flying, 50-mile bike rides, co-owning a small sailboat--living actively, yet simply. He and Dot enjoyed travel in the U.S. and to Europe, to visit some of the places Rusty had experienced during the war. He loved playing banjo with the St. Louis Banjo Club. He and Dot gave school presentations about WWII along with others from the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, Gateway Chapter. They were faithful members of Bethel United Methodist Church and founding members of Wildwood Historical Society. In recent years and months, Rusty’s constant and happy theme has been gratitude for Dot, and for his long and eventful life and its blessings.
Dot and Rusty shared their love of music, flying, travel, the outdoors, and many other adventures with their many nieces and nephews. Rusty's repeated teaching to them was (and is) the value of saving for the future.
Rusty was preceded in death by his parents and seven of his siblings; his beloved wife Dot, and their son, Steve. He is survived by his sister Amy Champlain, sister-in-law Marcella Pendleton, brother-in-law Harold "Jeep" Krueger, sister-in-law LaVerne Calvin, and MANY nieces and nephews who are blessed with a treasure of memories.
In lieu of flowers, suggested donations include Bethel United Methodist Church (address below), Susan G. Komen Missouri, P.O. Box 790129, Dept. SK, St. Louis, MO 63179-0129, or Wildwood Historical Society, P.O. Box 125, Grover, MO 63040.
Services: Memorial service at Bethel United Methodist Church, 17500 Manchester Road, Wildwood, 63038, Saturday, April 4, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. Interment Bethel Cemetery. Memorial visitation at the church that morning from 9:30 am until time of the service. A service of the SCHRADER Funeral Home and Crematory. Friends may sign the family's on-line guestbook at Schrader.com.
Three years later, at a Boy Scout barn dance in St. Albans, he met the one and only love of his life, Dorothy (Dot) Krueger. He was 16. She was 14. A week later, he asked her parents if he could take her to Labadie for another dance. It was a romance that lasted over 79 years until Dot's passing in March 2019.
World War II intervened before they could marry. Rusty enlisted one month after his nineteenth birthday and was sent to Belgium to fight in the Battle of the Bulge at 20. As anti-aircraft gunner, he told of dramatic instances of God's protection from dangerous situations.
Eight months after his safe return in March 1946, Dot and Rusty were married. That same year, they stepped in to raise her two younger brothers, George and Harold Krueger, because both Dot's parents had passed away. In 1949, their wonderful son, Steve, was born.
Rusty's work life was varied, and he relished every opportunity and experience, grateful for the advances he could make each time. A deliveryman on a horse-drawn milk route, a fire towerman for the Conservation Department, a maintenance/engineering worker at Barnes Hospital, where he maintained elevators by learning their sounds and operational quirks. He said he didn't have a BOOK mind, but he had a MECHANICAL mind. When a cancer doctor came to him and said he needed a "smoking machine," Rusty built him a sheet metal box with 50 cigarette holders and a vacuum line to concentrate the nicotine for research.
Rusty eventually became a union carpenter for the bulk of his career, and his co-workers still speak with admiration of his intelligence in finding and sharing smart, efficient shortcuts and workarounds.
He used his GI Bill to get a pilot's license in 1948, and eventually bought a small airplane during the 70s. Retiring early, he enjoyed flying, 50-mile bike rides, co-owning a small sailboat--living actively, yet simply. He and Dot enjoyed travel in the U.S. and to Europe, to visit some of the places Rusty had experienced during the war. He loved playing banjo with the St. Louis Banjo Club. He and Dot gave school presentations about WWII along with others from the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, Gateway Chapter. They were faithful members of Bethel United Methodist Church and founding members of Wildwood Historical Society. In recent years and months, Rusty’s constant and happy theme has been gratitude for Dot, and for his long and eventful life and its blessings.
Dot and Rusty shared their love of music, flying, travel, the outdoors, and many other adventures with their many nieces and nephews. Rusty's repeated teaching to them was (and is) the value of saving for the future.
Rusty was preceded in death by his parents and seven of his siblings; his beloved wife Dot, and their son, Steve. He is survived by his sister Amy Champlain, sister-in-law Marcella Pendleton, brother-in-law Harold "Jeep" Krueger, sister-in-law LaVerne Calvin, and MANY nieces and nephews who are blessed with a treasure of memories.
In lieu of flowers, suggested donations include Bethel United Methodist Church (address below), Susan G. Komen Missouri, P.O. Box 790129, Dept. SK, St. Louis, MO 63179-0129, or Wildwood Historical Society, P.O. Box 125, Grover, MO 63040.
Services: Memorial service at Bethel United Methodist Church, 17500 Manchester Road, Wildwood, 63038, Saturday, April 4, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. Interment Bethel Cemetery. Memorial visitation at the church that morning from 9:30 am until time of the service. A service of the SCHRADER Funeral Home and Crematory. Friends may sign the family's on-line guestbook at Schrader.com.
Winston L. “Rusty” Pendleton passed away, Thursday, February 20, 2020 at the age of 95. Born the youngest of nine children in rural Meta, Missouri, Rusty Pendleton came to St. Albans, Missouri, at the age of 13 with an eighth-grade education, and lots of confidence and hope for the future. High school was not an option back home, due to lack of transportation. Living with his aunt and family, he thrived--laboring full time at St. Albans Farms--caring for the registered dairy cows, showing them at the State Fair, and faithfully sending some of his earnings home to his widowed mother.
Three years later, at a Boy Scout barn dance in St. Albans, he met the one and only love of his life, Dorothy (Dot) Krueger. He was 16. She was 14. A week later, he asked her parents if he could take her to Labadie for another dance. It was a romance that lasted over 79 years until Dot's passing in March 2019.
World War II intervened before they could marry. Rusty enlisted one month after his nineteenth birthday and was sent to Belgium to fight in the Battle of the Bulge at 20. As anti-aircraft gunner, he told of dramatic instances of God's protection from dangerous situations.
Eight months after his safe return in March 1946, Dot and Rusty were married. That same year, they stepped in to raise her two younger brothers, George and Harold Krueger, because both Dot's parents had passed away. In 1949, their wonderful son, Steve, was born.
Rusty's work life was varied, and he relished every opportunity and experience, grateful for the advances he could make each time. A deliveryman on a horse-drawn milk route, a fire towerman for the Conservation Department, a maintenance/engineering worker at Barnes Hospital, where he maintained elevators by learning their sounds and operational quirks. He said he didn't have a BOOK mind, but he had a MECHANICAL mind. When a cancer doctor came to him and said he needed a "smoking machine," Rusty built him a sheet metal box with 50 cigarette holders and a vacuum line to concentrate the nicotine for research.
Rusty eventually became a union carpenter for the bulk of his career, and his co-workers still speak with admiration of his intelligence in finding and sharing smart, efficient shortcuts and workarounds.
He used his GI Bill to get a pilot's license in 1948, and eventually bought a small airplane during the 70s. Retiring early, he enjoyed flying, 50-mile bike rides, co-owning a small sailboat--living actively, yet simply. He and Dot enjoyed travel in the U.S. and to Europe, to visit some of the places Rusty had experienced during the war. He loved playing banjo with the St. Louis Banjo Club. He and Dot gave school presentations about WWII along with others from the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, Gateway Chapter. They were faithful members of Bethel United Methodist Church and founding members of Wildwood Historical Society. In recent years and months, Rusty’s constant and happy theme has been gratitude for Dot, and for his long and eventful life and its blessings.
Dot and Rusty shared their love of music, flying, travel, the outdoors, and many other adventures with their many nieces and nephews. Rusty's repeated teaching to them was (and is) the value of saving for the future.
Rusty was preceded in death by his parents and seven of his siblings; his beloved wife Dot, and their son, Steve. He is survived by his sister Amy Champlain, sister-in-law Marcella Pendleton, brother-in-law Harold "Jeep" Krueger, sister-in-law LaVerne Calvin, and MANY nieces and nephews who are blessed with a treasure of memories.
In lieu of flowers, suggested donations include Bethel United Methodist Church (address below), Susan G. Komen Missouri, P.O. Box 790129, Dept. SK, St. Louis, MO 63179-0129, or Wildwood Historical Society, P.O. Box 125, Grover, MO 63040.
Services: Memorial service at Bethel United Methodist Church, 17500 Manchester Road, Wildwood, 63038, Saturday, April 4, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. Interment Bethel Cemetery. Memorial visitation at the church that morning from 9:30 am until time of the service. A service of the SCHRADER Funeral Home and Crematory. Friends may sign the family's on-line guestbook at Schrader.com.
Three years later, at a Boy Scout barn dance in St. Albans, he met the one and only love of his life, Dorothy (Dot) Krueger. He was 16. She was 14. A week later, he asked her parents if he could take her to Labadie for another dance. It was a romance that lasted over 79 years until Dot's passing in March 2019.
World War II intervened before they could marry. Rusty enlisted one month after his nineteenth birthday and was sent to Belgium to fight in the Battle of the Bulge at 20. As anti-aircraft gunner, he told of dramatic instances of God's protection from dangerous situations.
Eight months after his safe return in March 1946, Dot and Rusty were married. That same year, they stepped in to raise her two younger brothers, George and Harold Krueger, because both Dot's parents had passed away. In 1949, their wonderful son, Steve, was born.
Rusty's work life was varied, and he relished every opportunity and experience, grateful for the advances he could make each time. A deliveryman on a horse-drawn milk route, a fire towerman for the Conservation Department, a maintenance/engineering worker at Barnes Hospital, where he maintained elevators by learning their sounds and operational quirks. He said he didn't have a BOOK mind, but he had a MECHANICAL mind. When a cancer doctor came to him and said he needed a "smoking machine," Rusty built him a sheet metal box with 50 cigarette holders and a vacuum line to concentrate the nicotine for research.
Rusty eventually became a union carpenter for the bulk of his career, and his co-workers still speak with admiration of his intelligence in finding and sharing smart, efficient shortcuts and workarounds.
He used his GI Bill to get a pilot's license in 1948, and eventually bought a small airplane during the 70s. Retiring early, he enjoyed flying, 50-mile bike rides, co-owning a small sailboat--living actively, yet simply. He and Dot enjoyed travel in the U.S. and to Europe, to visit some of the places Rusty had experienced during the war. He loved playing banjo with the St. Louis Banjo Club. He and Dot gave school presentations about WWII along with others from the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, Gateway Chapter. They were faithful members of Bethel United Methodist Church and founding members of Wildwood Historical Society. In recent years and months, Rusty’s constant and happy theme has been gratitude for Dot, and for his long and eventful life and its blessings.
Dot and Rusty shared their love of music, flying, travel, the outdoors, and many other adventures with their many nieces and nephews. Rusty's repeated teaching to them was (and is) the value of saving for the future.
Rusty was preceded in death by his parents and seven of his siblings; his beloved wife Dot, and their son, Steve. He is survived by his sister Amy Champlain, sister-in-law Marcella Pendleton, brother-in-law Harold "Jeep" Krueger, sister-in-law LaVerne Calvin, and MANY nieces and nephews who are blessed with a treasure of memories.
In lieu of flowers, suggested donations include Bethel United Methodist Church (address below), Susan G. Komen Missouri, P.O. Box 790129, Dept. SK, St. Louis, MO 63179-0129, or Wildwood Historical Society, P.O. Box 125, Grover, MO 63040.
Services: Memorial service at Bethel United Methodist Church, 17500 Manchester Road, Wildwood, 63038, Saturday, April 4, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. Interment Bethel Cemetery. Memorial visitation at the church that morning from 9:30 am until time of the service. A service of the SCHRADER Funeral Home and Crematory. Friends may sign the family's on-line guestbook at Schrader.com.
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