Pickering Funeral Home

When I come to the end of the day
And the sun has set for me
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little, but not too long
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that we once shared-
Miss me, but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take
And each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the Maker’s plan,
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick at heart
Go to the friends we know
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds-

Miss me, but let me go.

Roy Gardner Erdel, 79, died at 6:20 p.m. Tuesday evening at his home in Mexico.

Funeral services will be held on Friday at 11 a.m. at Pickering Funeral Home with the Rev. Randall Sawyer officiating. Visitation will be on Thursday from 4 until 7 p.m. at the funeral home with a Masonic service at 7 p.m. Burial will be in East Lawn Memorial Park.

Mr. Erdel was born on June 8, 1923, in Rush Hill, a son of Peter Johann Jr. and Margaret Gardner Erdel. He was a graduate of Laddonia High School and Rubicam Business College in St. Louis. On June 8, 1945, in Mexico he married Juanita Ulrich who survives at the home.

He was co-owner of Erdel Hardware in Mexico and was active in the business until his retirement on Jan. 28, 1989. He was a member of the First Christian Church in Mexico, an avid supporter of the Mexico Senior Center and delivered Meals on Wheels for many years. He was a life member of the Little Dixie Shrine Club, Moolah Temple, Hebron Lodge No. 354, and a 32^nd degree Mason. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

In addition to his wife, survivors include two daughters, Susan Atkins and husband Alan, and Nancy Oliver and husband Bruce, all of Mexico; two sisters, Lillie Kellerhals, Champaign, Ill., and Mary McCall, Kalamazoo, Mich.; four grandchildren, Amy Atkins Culwell and husband Tim, Lake St. Louis, Anne Atkins Williams and husband Wes, O'Fallon, Sarah Oliver Flowers and husband Brad, Farber, and Rebecca Oliver, Mexico; three great grandchildren, Haley and Clay Culwell, Lake St. Louis, and Grace Williams, O’Fallon.

His parents and four brothers, Clarence, Edward, Glen and John, preceded him in death.

The family suggests memorials be sent to the Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, the Mexico Senior Center or the Cancer Control Center at Audrain Medical Center. You may send memorials in care of Pickering Funeral Home, 403 N. Western, Mexico, MO 65265.