Lynn William Prantl

Funeral services for Lynn William Prantl, 95, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 10:00 a.m., Friday, February 15, 2013, in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.

Mr. Prantl died at 4:17 a.m., Tuesday, February 12, 2013, at West Vue Nursing Center.

He was born at home in Howell County, Missouri on May 26, 1917, to Will and Della Smith Prantl.  He attended Mount Pleasant, Brandsville and Koshkonong schools, where he played basketball, often walking the eight miles home after the games.  He spent most of his life on the same farm where he was born, operating a dairy first with his father and then his sons.  On June 28, 1941, he married Ruby Ernestine Bartley while stationed with the Army at Camp Robinson, Arkansas.  He served five years during World War II as a drill sergeant and made friends he kept for the rest of his life, often visiting them during trips he and the family made after the war.  In addition, he and Ruby traveled to Europe, South America and all fifty states.  He was a member of the Brandsville Church of Christ from 1935 until his death, where he was a teacher and elder for many years.  He also served seventeen years on the Howell Valley School Board as treasurer and president.  Lynn took pride in being a farmer, often reworking and inventing improvements to equipment.  He started driving when he was 8 years old and built a racecar with his grandfather, which he drove up and down the streets of Brandsville.  He also converted a car into a tractor.  Later, when his and Ruby’s family wanted to camp he designed a pop-up camper and sewed the turquoise tent on Ruby’s machine.  It was never mistaken for anyone else’s on the campground.  About six years ago, the family was told his diseased arteries were inoperable and he should stop driving and we could expect sudden death at any time.  Although he had occasional blackouts, he was unfazed and insisted on teaching Sunday school in spite of sometimes experiencing them while at the podium.  It made everyone nervous but him.  He was also highly tolerant of pain and usually told the doctor at checkups or even in the hospital he had no pain and felt fine.  Claimed he never had a headache in his ninety-five years.  He was even struck by lightning with no ill effects except for knocking him down.  He and Ruby loved to travel, often with family or friends, Joy and O.B. Tyree, Imon and Kathleen Bartley, Glenn and Ruth Dixon, Sport and Barbara Prantl, MFA and West Plains Bank trips.  Lynn remembered vividly a family trip in a Model T with is parents and sister, Ruth, to Washington State when he was 5 years old.  The car slid off the side of a mountain in the Rockies, turning over and coming to rest against a tree.  They were unhurt but his mother lost her purse and they couldn’t find 4 year old Ruth until they discovered she was still asleep in the car.  Years later he could retrace the route and said if one opened his head it would be full of maps.  His life always revolved around church.  Even though he milked mornings and evenings, he managed to attend even if he had to finish the night milking after he got home from evening services.  Away from home he and Ruby always found a church for Sunday mornings.  Although he told stories from his youth, he was interested in current happenings and eternally optimistic.  After Ruby died in 2009, he renewed a friendship with Sybil whom he had dated when they were 19 and whose husband was also deceased.  At age 93 they were able to see each other again and talked often by phone.  He believed very strongly in acceptance of people in spite of their differences and when once asked to speak at an event promoting unity followers of Christ, the verse he read was:  “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”  Romans 15:7

He is survived by his children, Kay Olberding, husband, Mike, West Plains, Missouri, Robert Prantl, wife, Leslie, West Plains, Missouri and Don Prantl, wife, Shirley, Daingerfield, Texas; eleven grandchildren; eleven great-grandchildren; and much-loved nieces and nephews.

His parents, wife, one sister, Ruth and one brother, Carl, precede him in death.

Visitation will be held from 6:00 until 7:00 p.m., Thursday, February 14, 2013 at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  Burial will be in the Oak Lawn Cemetery.  Memorial contributions may be made to Meltabarger Cemetery, and may be left at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.