MARION RAPER

TOPEKA, Kan.-Services were held on November 28, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Topeka for Marion Eldon Raper, 94, Topeka, a former resident of Barton County, Mo., who died November 23, 2015. Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home assisted the family. Burial, with military honors, was held December 4, at the Ogden City Cemetery in Ogden, Utah, under the direction of Lindquist Mortuary.

He married Catherine David in Topeka, on Feb. 14, 1982. Survivors in addition to his wife include four daughters, Karen Jensen and Nancy Crump, both of Salt Lake City, Utah, Marsha Nelson, St. George, Utah and Mary Bentley, Leavenworth, Kan.; two stepdaughters, Connie Woolin and Carol David, Texas; 15 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

He married Erma Nelson in Ogden, Utah on April 21, 1945; she died Sept. 24, 1976. He was also preceded in death by two sisters, Mildred Daniel and Goldie Wendel.

Mr. Raper was born April 23, 1921, at Irwin, Mo., to William Francis and Lottie (Purcell) Raper. He attended schools in Barton County and graduated from Lamar High School in 1938. He graduated from the University of Kansas in 1949 and worked as a structural engineer in Topeka for 42 years, retiring in 1991.

He was an Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, serving as a B-17 bombardier with the 385th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force in Suffolk, England. He participated in 30 operations over the continent in 1944 and 1945, being awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the French Liberation Diplome.