Melvin “Mel” Charles Illian, age 98, of Walcott, passed away on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, at Better Living of Walcott, where he had called home for the past 10 years. A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m., Friday, March 20, at Calvary Church of Walcott. A visitation will be held from 10:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. at the church prior to the service. Burial will take place in Walcott Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Calvary Church of Walcott, Walcott Historical Society or the Walcott Lions Club. Online condolences may be left at www.bentleyfuneralhome.com.
Mel was born July 13, 1927, the son of Charles F. and Elsie (Puck) Illian, on the family farm in Muscatine County. He graduated from Durant High School in 1944, shortly before his 17th birthday, while helping his cancer-stricken father work the family farm. His mother, Elsie (Soenke), had died much earlier of breast cancer in 1930 when he was 3 and his sister 5 years old. After his father, Charles, passed in 1945, he assumed the farming responsibility as well as the support of his sister Catherine and German-speaking grandmother, Anna Soenke Puck. Mel married Joan Ruth Klever on May 16, 1948, at the Calvary Baptist Church in Davenport, and their loving marriage lasted 62 years as they raised their four children until Joan passed in 2010 following a series of strokes.
Mel so loved farming that he was honored with an Iowan “Century Farm” award at the Iowa State Fair in 2023. He loved to help neighbors and friends in his Walcott community and was a self-ascribed machinist, expert welder, and enthusiastic supporter of younger farmers in the area. Through the years, he was a Walcott School Board member, Fulton Township Trustee, Muscatine County Farm Bureau member, Walcott Fire Department Volunteer, and active and Past President of the Lions Club for over 40 years. He also was a lifelong active member of the Calvary Church of Walcott. He enjoyed socializing with friends and relatives at community events and reunions and loved to play cards in various neighborhood card clubs with friends, family, and grandchildren.
Mel is survived and lovingly remembered by his children; Linda (William) Wallace of State College, Pa., David Illian of Parker, Colo., and Larry Illian of Littleton, Colo.; six granddaughters, Elizabeth Johnson, Amanda (Sam) Johnson, Kristina (Brett) Johnson, Rebecca Johnson, Natalie (Evan) Appel and Lindsay (Ryan) Kramlich; and two great-grandsons, William Appel and Milo Kramlich. He was preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Catherine Eichelberger; and his son, Mark Albert lllian.
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