Herbert `Grandpa' Weber

Herbert W. ``Grandpa'' Weber, 93, of Moline, died Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at Heartland Health Care Center, Moline.  

Services are 10:30 a.m. Friday at Beulah Presbyterian Church, Orion. Burial is in Greenview Memorial Gardens, East Moline. Visitation is 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Schroder Mortuary,     
Silvis. Memorials go to Beulah Presbyterian Church Memorial Fund.

He was born Oct. 7, 1909, in Geneseo, IL to Herman and Josephine Sweeney Weber. He married Etheleen Paxton Oct. 15, 1927, in Moline. She died in November 1980. 

Herbert and his wife owned and operated Plow City Ceramics in the 1960s and 1970s, and he also worked for Moline American Legion Post 246. He was a precision grinder for John Deere Plow and Planter, retiring in 1972 after 42 years of service. While at John Deere, Herbert received several commendations for his safety inventions.

He was a member of Beulah Presbyterian Church. He also was a Sunday School teacher and the Superintendent of Sunday School for many years at the Baptist Church in Erie. He was a volunteer for the SHARE program at Coyne Center, Earl Hanson School, Rock Island, and the Rock Island National Cemetery. He was an avid Civil War re-enactor with the Unit Scotts Tennessee Battery since 1981. He was also in two major motion pictures, ``Glory'' and ``Gettysburg.'' He was the Super Senior in 1983.

Herbert also enjoyed gardening, models and string art. He was known as ``Apple Grandpa'' by many.

Survivors (and spouses) include his daughters, Joyce Schoening and Mary Jo White, both of Rock Island, and Jackie (George) Brown, Lanark, Ill.; son, Bill (Mary) Weber, Milan; grandchildren, Carol Ann Schoening, Lester (Christyne) White and Kenneth White, all of Rock Island, Lewis Brown, Lanark, Vicky (Doug) Blair, Orion, Bill Weber Jr., Milan, Mary Ellen (Luis) Vasquez, East Moline, and Penny (Edmund) Peterson, Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.; 14 great-grandchildren; eight great-great-grandchildren; three stepgreat-grandchildren; five step great-great-grandchildren; and sister, Joan (Charles) Studuhar, Webster City, Iowa. He was preceded in death by a son, Kenneth, his parents, three brothers and two sisters.