Laddie Dwen Oliver, age 97, completed life on Saturday, June 29, 2024, at Aspire of Washington, and has gone to his reward.

Private family graveside services with military honors will be held at the Batavia City Cemetery in Batavia, Iowa. In lieu of flowers, memorials have been established for Hospice Compassus. The Jones & Eden Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

Laddie was born on January 9, 1927, near Selma, Iowa, the son of Francis Abraham and Florence Vera (Rogers) Oliver. He was born and raised on a farm northeast of Selma. Laddie attended Pleasant Plain Grade School north of Douds, Iowa, graduating from Selma High School. He received his diploma in 1945 while stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington. He serviced in the US Army from May of 1945 until October of 1946. He returned to Iowa and worked as a dump truck, low-boy, and dozer operator while farming from 1947 until 1952. He served in the US Air Force from 1953 until 1972 retiring with the grade of Technical Sergeant on November 1, 1971. With Personnel Administration as his Career Field and while at Toul Air Force Base in France, he was assigned additional duty as a Non-Commissioned Officer in charge of an M-1 Rifle Squad defending the Air Base from Libian Terrorist Guerrillas.

His unit was alerted to and reopened the rail and road entrance into Berlin that the Russians had blockaded. He was a General Aviation Pilot and served as co-pilot on Constellation, C-121, a military aircraft crossing the Atlantic. He was in England from 1973 until 1980 where he worked as an Aircraft Hydraulic Test Engineer for an International firm.

Laddie was ordained as an Evangelist with Revival Time USA and became Chairman of Love and Devotion Ministries Incorporated of Iowa while farming near Keosauqua, Iowa. He moved to Washington, Iowa, in 2009.

He is survived by his wife, Debra Oliver of Washington; daughters, Kim (Ken) Aylward of Sandwich, Kent, England; and Susan Schollan of Lode, Cambridgehire, England; two step daughters, Norma (Tony) Baker; and Karen Stacey; and one step son, Billy (Lynn) Hill of Des Moines, Iowa; several grandchildren; one brother and two sisters. He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters and one brother.