Funeral services for Wilbur James Holcomb, 87, of the Village in Indianola, who died Saturday, December 17, 2005 will be held 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 21, at Overton Funeral Home in Indianola. Cremation will follow services and interment of cremains will be at a later date. Wilbur passed away Saturday of pneumonia and congestive heart failure at Mercy Capital in Des Moines. Visitation will start Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. where the family will receive friends 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.

Born in Colo, IA, March 17, 1918, to Emmet and Ruth (Mead) Holcomb, Wilbur grew up in Lime Springs, IA, graduating from high school in 1935. After high school, he, among other things, took plane mechanic school in Muscatine and worked at the Rock Island Arsenal.

In January of 1942, he joined the U.S. Army, serving in the 591st Combat Engineers. He was stationed the next three years in parts of Europe and northern Africa and was discharged in September 1945.

Wilbur bought the Indianola Cab Line in 1946 and then started working at the Indianola Post Office in 1949, retiring there in 1985.

He was a member of the First United Methodist Church and the I.O.O.F. Lodge No. 70. He also was in the V.F.W., N.A.R.F.E. and was a lifetime member of the American Legion Post #165 and Encampment and of the Warren County Historical Society. Wilbur loved to travel the world and to read travel books and nonfiction.

Surviving are his daughter, Beth Holcomb and her husband, Brian Huddle of Pella and his son, Jay Holcomb and his wife, Juaquetta of Spokane, Washington; and four grandchildren, Brenna and Hannah Vogel and Brad and Ruth Holcomb. Also surviving are his sisters, Lillian Robb of Maynard, Iowa, and Laura Cornell of Tipton, Iowa.

Wilbur was preceded in death by his parents, and by his wife, Dorothea (Bradley) Holcomb, originally from Corning, Iowa, on December 15, 1991.

In Lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to IRIS, Iowa Radio Reading Information Service, 100 E. Euclid, Suite 127, Des Moines, IA 50313, which is the service that reads the newspaper, among other things, over a radio station for those who cannot read.