Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday, March 24, at the Campbell-Kelley Funeral Home in Eureka with the Rev. James Bush, pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Eureka, officiating. Interment will follow in the South Lawn Cemetery at Severy.

He was born March 20, 1918 near Cabool, Mo. to John Henry and Clara Rachel (Holden) Altis. He was raised in the Cabool community and attended school there.

On Oct. 23, 1937, he married Alfreda Vinita Whitson in Houston, Mo. They worked in sawmills together and traveled from Missouri to Ohio and Virginia before returning to Missouri.

In 1954, they moved to the Tonovay community east of Eureka. He worked in El Dorado in a machine shop before moving to Severy where he ran the stave mill from 1961 until its closing in 1964.

The couple returned to the Tonovay community where they built their home. He went to work for IPS in El Dorado in the machine shop. Following many years of service, he retired in 1980.

He was an avid fisherman and enjoyed bowling and raising a large garden. Freda preceded him in death May 23, 1990.

He is survived by nine sons, Ernest, Lawrence, Roger and Alan, all of Eureka, James of Severy, John of Shidler, Okla., Arthur of Emporia, Terry of Wichita and Richard, a nephew he raised as a son, of Ballwin, Mo.; eight daughters, Betty Mann, Mary Gulick and Shirley Drake, all of Eureka, Ruth Knight of Severy, Caroline Gum of Red Rock, Okla., Linda McDaniel of Ralston, Okla., Karen Boles of Great Bend and Norma Drake of Wichita; 56 grandchildren, 55 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

In addition to his wife, he was preceded in death by a son, Bobby; three brothers; one sister; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Memorials have been established with the American Cancer Society and the Howard Twilight Manor Nursing Home. Contributions may be sent in care of the funeral home.