The family is planning a celebration of life on May 22, 2021 at Riverview Park in Marshalltown. My brother, David Ward, sister, Deanna Ward, and I, Debra Wood were fortunate to be able to reunite my parents, Bill and Gwen Ward in their home at Windsor Manor assisted living in Nevada, Iowa before my father's death on April 18 , 2020. Days shy of his 93 birthday on May 22. They had recently been in the hospital. Dad with a collapsed lung caused by stage 4 esophagus cancer and mother recently breaking her hip. We were also fortunate to be with them because dad was under Hospice care. We want to especially thank the hospital staff at the Bliss Center, McFarland Clinic, Mary Greeley in Ames, Iowa and the staff at Windsor Manor for taking such great care of my parents off and on these last 4 years. He never knew a stranger. Even up to this last hours he asked his famous questions of where do you live to his hospice nurse and tried to make any connection to people they each might know. He did that with all of the staff he met at the Bliss Center, McFarland Clinic, Mary Greeley and Windsor Manor. He had a remarkable memory of people, dates and especially for figures. The out house on our old farm was covered on the inside with calculations for raising crops and investing money. Bill's parents were Charles and Jennie (Hannah) Ward. He was an orphan at an early age. His mother died when he was 2 and his father died when he was 12. His two immediately older sisters, Lois and Dorothy raised him. They developed a close bond that lasted to their dying days. He also had a fondness for his oldest and longest living sister, Jean, who had a sharp mind all the way to the end at age 103. He told his oncologist that his goal was to outlive sister Jean and he succeeded. She passed away October 1, 2018. On August 16, 1953, he was united in marriage to Gwen Krumm of Newburg. Left to cherish his memory are Gwen (his wife of 66 years), their children – Deb in Kansas City, Deanna in Ames and David (Jennifer) in Seattle as well as his grandchildren – Will Wood in Chicago and Jacob, Lana, Mei Lin Ward in Seattle. As well as his many friends in and around Nevada where he spent his last years; Colo where he had his last rural mail carrier route, Clemons & Saint Anthony where he had his last farm, and Marshall County where he spent most of his life. He grew up on a dairy farm east of Albion, Iowa. My dad created a comfortable life for himself and his family from a beginning with nothing but the love of his three sisters Lois Damman of Melbourne deceased 1990, Dorothy Smith of Colo deceased 2012, and Jean Hurlbut of Garwin deceased 2018. My dad wore several employment hats – farmer, bus driver, truck driver, factory worker, seed corn salesman, custom combine, and rural mail carrier (a job he enjoyed full time after retiring from farming). In his retirement years he kept busy with the local Kiwanis Club, volunteering at Harmony House and refurbishing kids' bikes to donate to charity. Also, he and Gwen attended Iowa State Women's Volleyball and Women's Basketball games. He will be laid to rest in the Rose Hill Cemetery, Marshalltown, IA. Memorial contributions can be made to Clemons United Church of Christ.