02/23/2025
Richard Carroll Kingery was born February 16, 1944 in Knoxville, Iowa the son of Ray Willett and Lorain Marguerite (Betterton) Kingery.
Richard was raised in the Columbia area, graduating with the Class of 1962. On August 29, 1964 Richard was united in marriage to Shirley Jean Karr at the First Christian Church in Knoxville.
The couple made their home in Chariton and Richard worked at the Hy-Vee warehouse. They later moved to Columbia and farmed. In 1972 Richard and Shirley moved to their current farm east of Pleasantville. Richard farmed his entire life and had also worked at Chem-Tech and helped on the setup of the Knoxville Wal-Mart.
Richard was very active in Marion County; having served leadership roles with 4-H, the Extension Council, Pleasantville Booster Club and the Marion County Cattlemen.
In his younger years he played men’s league softball and basketball. As the children grew, he coached several of their teams including Little League, softball and basketball and helped with numerous other events.
He and Shirley enjoyed traveling with their family to Canada, camping and showing cattle at the county and State Fairs and various other shows. Richard instilled his devotion to the Cyclones to his entire family and they enjoyed many events in Ames.
He will be remembered as a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother and friend.
Richard passed away Sunday, February 23, 2025 at his home at the age of 81 years.
He was preceded in death by his parents and sister, Patricia Wallace and sister-in-law, Eileen Kingery.
Those left to honor Richard’s memory include his loving wife of 60 years, Shirley; children: Diane (Rick) Rowley of Bussey, Rick (Deb) Kingery of Pleasant Hill, Kathi (Brian) Thompson of Indianola, Renae (Scott) Girdler of Pleasantville and Rebecca (Jeremy) Jolly of Pleasantville; grandchildren: Matt Rowley, Mark (Tricia) Rowley, Elizabeth (Daniel) Radcliffe, Ben Rowley, Nate (Emma) Thompson, Adam Thompson, Danika Park, Alyssa Park, Trent Jolly, Kylie Jolly, Maya Jolly and Tyson Jolly; great-grandchild, Stevie Frank; brother, Norman Kingery of Knoxville; brother-in-law, Dean Wallace of Chariton and many other family members and friends.