Edward Joseph Pirc

Our beloved father, grandfather and great-grandfather Edward Pirc, 90,of Neelyville, Mo., passed away at his home on December 20, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. He was born on March 3, 1933 in Neelyville, the younger of two children to parents Anton and Sophie (Susterich) Pirc. Both were Austrian born immigrants of Slovenian Nationality, who along with sister Josephine Hribovsek preceded him in death. Edward married Bessie Delaney in 1951 and shared 59 years until she preceded him in death on Dec. 12, 2010. As a lifelong resident of Neelyville, Edward remained interested and participative in the local community and farming activities. He had been a Farm Bureau member since 1942, lifelong member of Woodmen of the World organization, and had served a term on the District 7 Drainage Board in an effort to reduce local farmland drainage issues. In the early 1950s he served on the school board for Hart School located north of Neelyville, which was later merged in to the Neelyville School District in the early 1960's. Many years after services were dicontinued, the St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, which had been located on the family property for over 70 years, was donated to the town of Neelylville by Edward and is currently managed by the Neelyville Historical Society and houses a number of the town's documents. When anyone would ask Edward what his hobbies were, his response would always be the same- farming. However, in later years he would dabble in various woodworking projects as well as his scrap metal "farm art" creations, a favority piece being his Wizard of Oz "Tin Man" mailbox. Well known for his sense of humor and sharp wit, when anyone had a converstation with Edward, you never know what kind of funny zinger he was going to come out with. He very much enjoyed recounting stories of the early days of the Slovenian settlement to the local area, and up until the time of his death, could recall in vivid detail all the local area settlers stemming back to the early 1930's as well as farming practices from team and wagon to the introduction of tractors. Edward's immediate survivors include son, John Elsworth and wife, Norma of Corning, Arkansas; daughter Kathy Hefner and husband, Charles of Sherman, Texas and Patricia Hart of Phoenix, Arizona. He also leaves eight grandchildren, five great-great-grandchildren and three nieces; a son, Charles Edward, preceded him in death in 2003. Arrangememts are with Fowler-Sullivan Memorial Chapel of Neelyville, Mo. Visitation will begin for all friends and family from 5-8 p.m. on Saturday, December 22, 2012, with final services to be held in the funeral home chapel on Sunday, December 23, 2012 at 2 p.m., Donnie Fowler officiating. Edward will be laid to rest at Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Poplar Bluff, Mo. He was always the family rock, inspiration, and story teller and will miss him dearly.