LOREN W. DOWTY, 79  of Claremont, Illinois, a former long-time resident of Sumner, IL, passed away Tuesday, December 24, 2012 at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, IN.

He was born February 5, 1933 in Richland County, IL a son of Wilbert and Beulah Zelda (Stadge) Dowty. He married Jo Ann Fortney in 1955. They were married for 32-years and she survives.

Loren was a heavy equipment operator; working mainly doing pipeline construction. Later he started the first Lawrence County landfill and worked in garbage disposal collection in three counties. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War and was a member of the Sumner Masonic Lodge.

He is survived by three sons, Roger Dowty and his wife Cindy of Bridgeport, IL, Randy Dowty and his wife Susie of Sumner, and Rick Dowty and his wife Claudia of Sumner; there are four grandchildren, Staci Jo Arbuckle and her husband B.J. of Sumner, Rusty Dowty and his wife Jessie of Sumner, Ryan Dowty of Terre Haute, IN, and Chelsea Thacker and her husband Tyler of Sumner; six great-grandchildren, Hayden, Avery and Emma Jo Arbuckle, Owen and Easton Dowty, and Lane William Thacker.

The funeral service at the Sivert-Macey and Steffey Funeral Home in Sumner with Daniel Carlson officiating. Burial in the Sumner City Cemetery.

Published in The Sumner Press (IL)- January 3, 2013