Herbert F. Doden, Jr.

Herbert F. Doden, Jr., 94, of Rock Island, died Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 at Silver Cross Nursing Center, Rock Island. Funeral services will be 1 pm Friday at Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home and Crematory, 3030 7th Ave., Rock Island. Visitation is 11 am until service time Friday at the funeral home. Burial will be at the National Cemetery, Arsenal Island, where military honors will be presented by Moline American Legion Post 246. Memorials may be made to Friendship Manor, Church of Peace United Church of Christ or to the Rock Island/Milan Education Foundation. Herb was born on Oct. 9, 1924 in Moline, a son of Herbert M. F. Doden and Mabel Fedderson Doden. He graduated from Rock Island High School in 1943 and was immediately drafted into the service, as were all the male members of the class of 1943. He was placed in the ASTP program at L.S.U. until the program was disbanded and then saw action in the Battle of the Bulge on Elsenborn Ridge and at the Remagen Bridge. His outfit was also involved in the liberation of slave labor camps and POW camps. Herb was awarded a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. After the service, he gratefully received under the G.I. Bill, his degree in Pharmacy at the University of Iowa and joined his family’s drug store in 1949. His family’s pharmacy served with pride Rock Island’s west end community for over seventy years. Many young Rock Island students began their working years at Doden’s Drug Store. He married Jean Ruehmann on July 9, 1949 in Davenport, and would have been married 70 years in July. Herb’s hobbies were restoring antique cars, Model T’s and Model A’s. He and his friends who also restored old cars often claimed “that when the project was done it’s no more fun”. He was a member of the Mississippi Valley Region of the AACA, Model T Club, Church of Peace United Church of Christ, and the former Rock Island County Pharmaceutical Association, of which he had served as president and treasurer. He also enjoyed good jazz, big bands and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Survivors include his wife, Jean; children, Rick (Kate) Doden, Hansville, Wash., and Heidi (Vere) Palmer, Belgrade, Mont.; seven grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; and his sister, Marybeth Whitten, Highland, Village, Tex. Online condolences may be left at wheelanpressly.com.

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