Billy “Bill” Grissam McLaughlin, 80

Billy “Bill” Grissam McLaughlin, 80, of Sedalia, died Friday, June 28, 2013 at Bothwell Regional Health Center.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Monday, July 1, 2013 at First Baptist Church with the Rev. Marlin Brown officiating. Burial with military honors will be in Riverside Cemetery in Warsaw.  Visitation will be from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Sunday at the church. Memorials are suggested to the Bothwell Foundation for the chapel project in care of McLaughlin Funeral Chapel.

Born June 15, 1933 in Sedalia, he was the son of the late James Olen and Mabel Pate McLaughlin. On April 30, 1991 in Reno, NV, he married Connie Spry Husong, who survives of the home.

Also  surviving is a son, Craig McLaughlin  and his wife, Karen of Cape Girardeau; three daughters, Dawn Weaver and husband Robert of St. Joseph, Jill Grunewald and husband Mark of Minneapolis, Minnesota and April McLaughlin of Harrisonville; step-son, John Husong and wife wife, Marcy of Sedalia; eight grandchildren, Jeff McLaughlin, Grace McLaughlin, Harriett Grunewald, Brittany Husong, Ashley Husong, Luke Husong, Taylor Husong and Jack Husong. He was preceded in death by a step-son, Jim Husong and his wife, Andrea Husong;  and his sister, Blondean Arnett and her husband, H.W. Arnett.

Mr. McLaughlin was a  47 year member of the First Baptist Church in Sedalia. He was a 1950 graduate of Warsaw High School. He attended Drury College in Springfield and University of Missouri-Columbia. He was a member of the TKE fraternity. He was a 1960 graduate of the Kentucky School of Mortuary Science in Louisville, Kentucky. He was a licensed funeral director and embalmer having passed his National Board Exams. . Following his graduation from mortuary school he served his apprenticeship at the Thorpe-Gordon Funeral Home in Jefferson City. He later worked at Sweeney-Reser Funeral Home in Marshall before beginning with McLaughlin Funeral Chapel in Sedalia, where he worked for 32 years retiring in 1998 as manager. He was a member of the Elks Lodge, Ararat Shrine in Kansas City, Shawnee Masonic Lodge #653 in Warsaw, and a former member of the Sedalia Lions Club. He had also been a member of the Missouri Funeral Directors Association and National Funeral Directors Association.