Eugene E. “Buck” Hartwell, 87, of Parsons died at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 24, 2009, at Labette Health.

He was born Aug. 15, 1922, at Altamont to Claude and Katie (Green) Hartwell. He grew up in Altamont and attended Labette County Community High School.

In 1940, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and five months later received a medical discharge. He entered the U.S. Army in November 1942 and participated in action in Normandy, Northern France, Central Europe and The Rhineland. His awards included the Expert Infantry Badge, the Combat Infantry Badge and the Good Conduct Medal. In January 1945 he received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star in February 1945. He was discharged in October 1945.

After the war he returned to Parsons and established the Hartwell Construction Co. He was a soil conservation contractor from 1946 until his retirement in 1987.

Mr. Hartwell was a member of the Kansas Land Improvement Contractors Association and the Land Improvement Contractors of America for 40 years. He was a life member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, a life member of the Brown-Bishop Post No. 704, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and a life member of Post No. 5, Disabled American Veterans. He also was a member of the former Spring Valley Methodist Church in rural Altamont.

On May 19, 1946, he married Mary Jo Allen at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Parsons. She survives of the home.

Other survivors include four daughters, Carol Forbes and her husband, Jim, Connie Lyons and her husband, Mike, all of Parsons, Mary Pat Deckard and her husband, Richard, of Cherokee and Julie Hartwell of Joplin; 10 grandchildren, Dan Forbes of Erie, Chris O’Connor of Lenexa, Frankie Forbes of Kansas City, Mo., Jennifer Simmons of Wichita, Lorry Pichler, Emily Westhoff, both of Pittsburg, Matthew Billington of St. Joseph, Mo., Joshua Lyons and Lynzi Lyons, both of Springfield, Mo., and Rylee Hartwell of Joplin and 14 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by two sisters, Maxine McCrary and Elaine Oliphant.

The service will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Carson-Wall Funeral Home. Burial will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery with military honors. The family will receive friends from 6 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home.

Memorials are suggested to the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society. They may be left at or sent to the funeral home, P.O. Box 942, Parsons, 67357.

Online condolences may be left at www.wallfuneralservices.com.