Stanley Everet Farnham

Stanley Everett “Stan” Farnham was born July 6, 1930 in his grandfather’s home, delivered by his other grandfather. On October 14, 2024 he passed away after a battle with cancer. He was 94 years old.

Stan grew up during The Depression. He worked hard at the young age of nine delivering newspapers. From ages twelve to eighteen he enjoyed working in a service station after school and on weekends. The depression helped him understand how to live with less. His parents told him he could achieve anything he wanted if he worked for it. Hard and loyal work became a hallmark of his life. He learned commitment and duty while growing up during WWII. Stan attended nine different schools before graduating from high school in 1948 where he lettered in basketball.

During his college years, Stan spent his summers working as a forest firefighter. His collegiate studies were interrupted by the Korean War and he entered the Army. Stan soon met the love of his life, Mary, and they married upon his completion of basic training. His career in the Army continued by attending OCS (Officer Candidate School). Upon graduation he was commissioned a second lieutenant, attended parachute school and was assigned to the 11th Airborne Division. When the war ended he came home and the couple moved to Kansas City, MO where Stan went to work for Westinghouse as a technical writer. He attended college at night and later attended law school. Stan was a member of law fraternity Delta Theta Phi.

Stan and Mary moved to Des Moines, IA in 1957 where he worked for Delavan Manufacturing Company as a manager and completed his degree at Drake University, graduating in 1959. Stan handled publicity for the Valley Junction Diamond Jubilee and wrote a weekly column for the newspaper in 1968. After 15 years at Delavan and six children later, the family moved to Janesville, WI where Stan became a Vice President and General Manager of Sta-rite Industries. Stan left his position there to lead five manufacturing companies as a turnaround CEO.

He and Mary retired and moved to Florida. Stan had been the President of a dozen organizations including his passion, The Florida Lighthouse Association, Inc. During his tenure, the association achieved a major goal of a Florida Specialty license plate for sustained funding of lighthouse preservation in 2008. Three Florida lighthouses were rebuilt or restored to join six others publicly open.

Stan pursued genealogy as a past time and after many hours of research wrote books about his and Mary’s families. He wrote his autobiography in 2017 along with two other books, including “So You Want to Move to Florida”.

He and Mary moved back to Iowa to The Elite Lodge of Ashworth, West Des Moines, IA in 2012, where he was the photographer and newsletter editor for three years. A voracious reader, he read thousands of books in his lifetime. After Mary passed away in 2013, he later met Mo Pingel, who had also lost her spouse and the two became fast friends and enjoyed their time together.

From his children: Our Dad worked hard all his years to provide for our Mom and for the six of us, our spouses, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren. His legacy is one of perseverance and dedication and we will forever be grateful for the childhood and life our parents carved out for us. Our Dad was an avid bike rider, even doing RAGBRAI at the age of 89 in 2019. This past September we were all so very proud to celebrate his accomplishment of riding his bike every day for a year. And, he even extended “riding everyday” to 398 days until his body could no longer climb on his bike. He enjoyed life to the fullest! We invite you to attend his “Celebration of Life” with full military honors at The Elite Lodge of Ashworth, 909 Ashworth Rd., West Des Moines, Iowa at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, November 8.

Stan is survived by his brother, Art (Cindy) of Wichita, KS; brothers-in-law, Homer (his sister, Pat preceded him) of Temecula, CA; Loyd (Myrna) Walker of Fort Worth, TX; and Larry (Denise) Walker of Bismark, ND; sister-in-law, Sue (Paul) Reynolds of Independence, Mo; his six children: John Steven (Sherry) of Austin, TX, Linda (Mike) Colby of West Des Moines, IA, Timothy (Pam) of Wichita, KS, Marlene (Steve) Bysted of Janesville, WI, Michael (Edni) of Madison, WI and Gregory of Sunnyvale, California; 13 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. His wife, Mary preceded him in death.

Memorials may be made to the Florida Lighthouse Association (Our Dad’s nostalgic passion), www.go2.org (lung cancer research) or http://www.countthekicks.org (Chosen because our Dad contributed regularly to this organization. Because of Count the Kicks research, one of his great grandsons was born alive and well instead of a different outcome).

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