Lloyd Arthur Epley, 97, died peacefully in Coralville at Lantern Park Specialty Care on Sept. 21, 2023. He was a servant leader and leaves a legacy of wisdom, kindness, and caring to all those he encountered. Lloyd’s wish was to donate his body to the University of Iowa Deeded Body Program for research.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023, on what would have been his 98th birthday at the Sharon Center United Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m., in rural Kalona. Visitation will be Friday, Sept. 29 from 4-7 p.m., at the church. Arrangements are by Beatty Peterseim in Kalona. The service will be live streamed. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established at the Hills Bank. Memorials can also go directly to the Sharon Center United Methodist Church, the Coralville Library Foundation, the Nebraska Pennsylvania Colony Foundation, or to the Red Bird Clinic, Inc., in Beverly, Kentucky.
Lloyd was born Sept. 30, 1925, the fifth and youngest child of Arthur C. Epley and Lydia A. (Raecker) Epley, on the family farm north of Waverly, Iowa. He started attending first grade at the country school at Warren Township at age five. He grew up active in the Warren EUB Church, singing solos and giving sermons from an early age.
He participated in many 4-H Fairs and was active in FFA and chorus in high school. He was the top judge for the Brown Swiss breed at the 1941 National 4-H Dairy Judging Contest in Memphis, Tennessee. He was also selected as an Iowa FFA outstanding agricultural student in 1942.
Lloyd graduated from Waverly High School in 1943 and went to Westmar College in Le Mars graduating in 1951. He wrote the first constitution for the student governing body that was unchanged until the college dissolved in 1997, and he participated in the acappella choir and the tennis team.
On May 11, 1952, he married his college sweetheart, Donna Heim Epley, in Humboldt, Nebraska. He always claimed the marriage was the best decision he ever made.
He served in Korea in the Army in 1952 as a supply sergeant after being trained as a psychiatric attending in Ft. Mead, Colorado. During his years of service as a conscientious objector, he received three Bronze Stars, Two Overseas Bars, a United Nations Service Medal, and a Meritorious Unit Citation. He was discharged as an Army Corporal in 1953 and moved with his wife to Iowa City to finish law school, graduating in 1955.
Lloyd and his partners renovated an old feed store on Gilbert Street in Iowa City and he practiced in Iowa City as well as Kalona until he retired after 60 years from law at the age of 90. The law firm continues today as Honohan, Epley, Braddock, and Brenneman. The Johnson County Legal Secretaries Association named him Boss of the Year in 1972. Over the years, he modeled civility to his co-workers and clients and enjoyed mentoring young law students.
Lloyd and Donna raised their three children in Coralville, Iowa. He enjoyed camping with his family at national parks all over the United States, gardening, teaching
Sunday School and singing in a praise band well into his nineties. He was an avid Cubs and Hawkeyes fan and a voracious reader. He said his greatest accomplishment in life was being part of the “Dirty 30” from Iowa who collaborated with Afro-Americans and others in Dallas in 1968 to merge the Evangelical United Brethren Church and the United Methodist Church. Although vilified by some, he did what he believed was right and what God directed him to do.
Lloyd considered all of Johnson County his home. He was active in the Coralville, Iowa City, Sharon Center, and Kalona communities. He served on the Johnson County Civil Service Commission, the Zoning Board for Coralville as well as the Coralville Library Board and the Johnson County Historical Society. He was also on the Goodwill Board in Iowa City. He was a member of Old Capital Toastmasters in Iowa City as well as a long-term member of the Kalona Rotary and a Paul Harris Fellow. He was active in Gideons and the Oakdale Prison Ministry. He was on the Pleasantview Nursing Home Board in Kalona.
The organization that captured his involvement later in life was the local chapter of Veterans for Peace. Lloyd and Donna were active members of the Sharon Center United Methodist Church where he was a lay minister. He considered Sharon Center UM Church members to be part of his family. They were involved in many mission trips and Elderhostels in the U.S. and abroad.
He retired in Kalona in 2016 with his wife and then lived in Mason City until moving back to Coralville in April of 2023. Music continued to be a big part of his life, and he witnessed to staff in the four different nursing homes where he lived by singing hymns from memory and speaking of his blessings after surviving COVID three times.
Proceeding him in death were his parents; and his four older sibling and their spouses: Milton Epley (Mae), Perry Epley (Chalice), Florence Lundberg (Bert) and Ivan Epley (Evelyn); and his cherished wife: Donna, who died in 2019. He is the last of his generation, the descendants of Jacob and Mary (Becker) Epley of Waverly, preceded in death by all his first cousins and all but one of his second cousins.
He was extremely proud of his family and is survived by his three children and his eight grandchildren: Dea Epley Birtwistle (John) of Tiffin and their daughter Anne Nankee (Bryant) of Milwaukee, Jean Epley Carleton of Plano, Texas and her children, Timothy Carleton (Justine) of Phoenix, Christopher Carleton of Dallas, and Kathleen Miller (Sam) of North Augusta, and David Epley (Barb) of Indianola and their children, Corey Epley of Des Moines, Mina Epley of North Liberty, Mitchell Epley of Ankeny and Nathan Epley of Indianola. He has many loving nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews and great-great nieces and nephews who are carrying on his legacy.
