Jerald C. Houston

Jerald Charles Houston was born in Dow City, Iowa, on March 27, 1936, the son George “Ben” and Laura Wilder Houston. He is the twelfth child of their twenty children. He passed away Monday, June 20, 2016 at Dunlap Specialty Care in Dunlap, Iowa, at the age of eighty.
Jerry grew up in Dow City and attended the Dow City Schools. He was united in marriage to Marilyn Soper. The couple was blessed with the birth of three children. He was baptized in the United Methodist Church. Jerry moved to Omaha, Nebraska, and worked for Watson Brothers Transportation Company which later became Yellow Freight. He was transferred to Kansas City, Missouri and retired in 1979. Jerry was the owner of J.C.’s Prime Rib in Dow City for several years. He traveled extensively and visited every state in the union except, Alaska. He was avid card player and enjoyed playing the game of aggravation with his family and friends.
Jerry was preceded in death by his parents; one son, Brian Charles Houston; nine brothers: Robert, Jack, Don, George, James, Eddie, Bill, Russell and Tom; six sisters: Margaret Gingerich and her husband, George, Marion Hamann and her husband, Don, Betty Hodkin and her husband, Otis, Lois Steinkuehler and her husband, Victor, Jane Heuton and Kay Justice; two brothers-in-law:, Jim Spreng and Virgil Frazier; four sisters-in-law: Peggy, Una, Kathleen and Charlene Houston;. He is survived by two daughters: Valerie Croy and her husband, Dan of St. Joseph Missouri, and Sheila Houston of Charlotte, North Carolina; 6 grandchildren; 6 great-grandchildren; two brothers; Roger Houston and his wife, Helen of Dow City, and Kenneth Houston and his wife, Rita of Fernandina Beach, Florida; two sisters: Helen Spreng, and Connie Wood and her husband, Ron, all of Dow City; two sisters-in-law: Jeanette Houston of Denison and Barbara Houston of Spanaway, Washington; one brother-in-law, Roger Justice of Bella Vista, Arkansas; many other relatives and friends.