Registration October 16, 1940 at Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

Visitation is from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. today at Atwood Family Funeral Chapel in Basin.

He died August 14, 1999, at Deaconess Hospital in Billings, Montana.

He was born July 14, 1913, at Manning, Iowa, the son of William E. and Nellie B. (Johnson-Irwin) Stoelk. In 1918, at age 5, he and his mother moved to Wyoming by train.

He attended schools in Shell and Basin and graduate from Basin High School in 1931. He was accepted to the Lincoln Flying School in Lincoln, Nebraska, and graduated from there in 1934 as a flight instructor.

He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 through 1944 as a flight instructor.

He married Ruth Janet Hathaway on November 20, 1936, in Turin, Iowa, and they had three sons.

He farmed in Basin Gardens, worked at Western Title and Loan Company for several years, and then became an independent petroleum landman and worked throughout the Western United States for several oil and gas companies.

He was very active in the community and served on the Basin School Board for 23 years, the Basin Town Council, and was a lifetime member of the Greybull Elks Lodge No. 1431.

He served as past president of the Basin Eagles Aerie No. 3086, and was a lifetime member of the American Association of Petroleum Landmen, a member of the East Texas Association of Petroleum Landmen, and the Wyoming Association of Petroleum Landmen.

He had been a member of the United Methodist Church in Basin, since 1926.

Survivors include his wife of Basin, two sons, William E. Stoelk and his wife of Basin, and Bradford L. Stoelk and his wife of Augusta, Maine; two very special aunts, Laura Irwin of Powell County, Montana; and Ella Reimers of Manning, Iowa; nine grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins; and many dear friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one son, Craig, and one granddaughter.

Atwood Family Funeral Directors in charge of arrangements.