Virgil F. Oler, 89, of Parsons, died at 12:43 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, in the Labette Health emergency room. He was taken to the hospital shortly before his death.

He was born March 23, 1920, in rural Parsons to Frank and Bessie (Hardy) Oler. He grew up in the rural area northwest of Parsons, near Galesburg, and attended the Ladore School. He also attended Parsons High School.

During World War II he served in the Army as a medic with the 45th Division and participated in five invasions overseas. After the war, in 1948, he began working for the U.S. Postal Service as a letter carrier. Eventually he became a rural carrier on Route 3 and often, in bad weather, would take mail to the house, rather than leaving it in the box by the road. He retired from the Postal Service in 1983, after a 38-year career. After retiring he worked for Parsons Motors for 14 years.

He was a life member of the Brown-Bishop Post No. 704, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and loved to visit about the war experience with friends and family. He also belonged to the Rural Letter Carriers Association.

On July 11, 1942, he married Frances E. Lynam at Belvidere, Ill. She survives of the home.

Other survivors include a son, Gary Oler and his wife, Karen, of Owasso, Okla.; a daughter, Deanna Hopper and her husband, Paul, of Parsons and Kerrville, Texas; five grandchildren, Mark Hopper and his wife, Sharla, of Parsons, Douglas Hopper and his wife, Sharon, of Pensacola, Fla., Scott Hopper of Kerrville, Texas, Michealle Malone and her husband, Jeff, of Collinsville, Okla., and Kimberly Cory and her husband, Brian, Owasso, Okla.; eight great-grandchildren; a great-great-granddaughter; and a sister, Dorothy Brandon of Wichita.

He was preceded in death by two brothers, two sisters and a great-granddaughter.

The service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Carson-Wall Funeral Home. Burial will be in Memorial Lawn Cemetery with military honors given by the Brown-Bishop Post No. 704, Veterans of Foreign Wars. The family will receive friends from 7 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home.

The family suggests memorials to the local VFW and these may be left at or mailed to the funeral home, P.O. Box 942, Parsons, 67357.

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