Earl French was born in Bellwood. He graduated from Schuyler High School in 1949, helped his father on the farm and joined the Navy when the Korean War started.
He served for four years, had four Mediterranean tours, was a Third Grade Radarman on the Battleship Beatty and also enlisted four years in the reserves. He went to Universal Trade School in Omaha. He married Roberta Smith and they were blessed with a daughter, Kimberley Ann French. He worked for the Civil Service with General Services Administration. Later during his single days, he continued working at GSA but also bought three brick duplexes in the Dundee area. Besides doing all necessary repairs, he even converted five oil furnaces into gas. He kept them for four years. He bought and restored (a rare two-story 1957 mobile home that he moved to McGinn Cabins in North Bend, but lived in Omaha.
Later, he met his wife, Marie Sukovaty, formerly of Wilber. They married Feb. 10, 1977. He continued working at GSA, retired after 28 years of work at 55, passed a real estate course and worked with Century 21 Jay. He took up a new hobby of restoring old cars, especially Thunderbird convertibles, going to car shows in Omaha and beyond, including Wilber. When he was 60, he answered an ad on a Friday night for an engineer at the Federal Building in Council Bluffs, managed by a company in the state of Virginia, and was at work Monday morning. He previously serviced that building while at GSA. He never met his bosses. The day before his 65th birthday, he ended up with a dissected aneurysm.
After he recovered, he traveled, to visit relatives and friends and took many tours, mostly with Moostach Joe Tours. When Earl's health began to deteriorate, diagnosed then with dementia, they remained at home a few years until he ended up in a hospital and was placed in the Brookestone Village nursing home, where he passed away with his wife by his side.
He is survived by his wife, Marie; daughter, Kimberley, of Henderson, Nevada; and brother, Dean, Medford, Oregon. He was preceded in death by his parents, Lewis and Hazel French; sister, Ina Mae Muhle and Don; brother, Dick and Marilyn; and Dean's wife, Margie.
Burial was at the Westlawn-Hillcrest Cemetery at Omaha.
