{"id":13947,"date":"2025-07-13T16:17:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T21:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=13947"},"modified":"2025-07-17T08:11:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:11:18","slug":"walter-r-chip-urfer-100-of-west-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/13947-walter-r-chip-urfer-100-of-west-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"Walter R. &#8220;Chip&#8221; Urfer (100) of West Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p>Walter R. \u201cChip\u201d Urfer, age 100, of West Liberty, Illinois, passed away at 9:43 AM \u2013 Saturday, July 12, 2025, at Carle Richland Memorial Hospital in Olney, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p>A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 AM &#8211; Saturday, July 19, 2025, at Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Newton, Illinois.\u00a0 The burial will be in the Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Newton, Illinois, with full military rites.\u00a0 A visitation for family and friends will be held from 4:00 to 7:00 PM on Friday, July 18, 2025, at the church and from 9:30 to 10:30 AM prior to mass.\u00a0 In loving memory of Walter, memorials may be made to Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church or Sainte Marie American Legion.\u00a0 Arrangements are under the care of the Meyer Funeral Home in Newton, Illinois.\u00a0\u00a0The obituary can be viewed and condolences left at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.meyerfh.com\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.meyerfh.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1752778415771000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3PS_esvo2Kl52LQsHDfQNr\">www.meyerfh.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Walter was born on November 10, 1924, in Jasper County, Illinois, the son of Walter G. and Flossie A. (Robins) Urfer.\u00a0 He graduated from Newton Community High School with the Class of 1943.\u00a0 He married Leatha Ginder on August 19, 1946, at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Stringtown, Illinois. Walter and Leatha shared 62 years of marriage before her passing on November 25, 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Walter was a lifelong farmer.\u00a0 He was a longtime member of the Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 4th\u00a0degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a 75-year member of the Sainte Marie American Legion Post #932.<\/p>\n<p>Walter served his country in the United States Navy and was inducted on January 9, 1945, serving during World War II, and he was honorably discharged on July 16, 1946.\u00a0 He was one of the few remaining World War II veterans in Jasper County.\u00a0 He will be remembered by everyone who knew him as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.<\/p>\n<p>Walter is survived by his seven children: Vernon (Ruby) Urfer of West Liberty, Illinois; Dion (Deborah) Urfer of Newton, Illinois; Steven Urfer of West Liberty, Illinois; Gilbert (Pamela) Urfer of Newton, Illinois; Douglas (Mary) Urfer of West Liberty, Illinois; Elaine (Duane) Menke of Newton, Illinois; and Rita Urfer of Phoenix, Arizona.<\/p>\n<p>Walter found his greatest joy in his family, especially his grandchildren and great-grandchildren: Grandchildren: Adrianne Urfer (Tim Bilbrey), Aaron (Amanda) Urfer, Alison (Rodney) Kuhl, Rachel (Curtis) Frohning, Brianne Urfer, Kristen (Tristan) Knicley, Amanda (Brock) Tarr, Britni (Travis) Huddleston; Great-grandchildren: Alaina, Austun, Ashlyn, and Adeline Urfer; Kaden and Rylan Kuhl; Laney and Mila Frohning; Bentley and Westin Knicley; Turner and Riley Tarr; Sophie and Audrey Huddleston.<\/p>\n<p>Walter is also survived by his brother, Earl (Susan) Urfer of Dundas, Illinois and several nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Walter was preceded in death by his beloved wife Leatha, parents, infant twin sister Wanda Rose Urfer, sister Dorothy Isenburg and brother Leon Urfer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chip died the morning of Saturday, July 12<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Walter R. &quot;Chip&quot; 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