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City bids farewell to Mayor Worrell
by Rick DeClue · News · June 25, 2015
Hundreds joined the family and those close to Mark Worrell at the West Branch High School auditorium Saturday to mourn the loss and celebrate the life of the Mayor, who died last Monday.
Five rows of seating were reserved up front for the family – and they were filled.
Pastor Ron Lashmit of Tipton presided and a large contingent of West Branch firefighters attended, sitting in a group across the aisle from the family.
Prior to the start of the service, photographs flashed across a large screen in a show of the important things in Worrel’s life: family, friends, celebration, travel, dogs and puppies, fishing, hunting, Harleys and hats.
There were also several pictures of what his family said the mayor called “dog piles.” These were pictures taken through the years of Mark sprawled on the floor – with varied hair styles, mixed quantities of grey shot through his hair and beard, and different children starting with his three young daughters through bunches of nieces and nephews.
In each shot, under the piled up collections of arms and legs, lay “Cubby” with a grin on his face.
The mayor had given some thought to planning his own celebration: The family found a list of songs he had prepared of the music to which he wanted to say goodbye, “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder,” sung by Johnny Cash and written by Willie Nelson; Nelson’s version of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”; Elvis Presley’s rendition of the Christian hymn “How Great Thou Art”; and Vince Gill’s “Go Rest High on that Mountain.”
Former city public works director and, later, council member Jim Oaks, a lifetime friend of Worrell, told the gathering how “extremely hard it will be to replace Mark’s dedication to the city of West Branch.”
One of Mark’s nieces read a list that he had prepared about 10 years ago of important people that had influenced his life. She said it may not include recent additions, but it was a list that started with his mother and father.
At another family funeral a year or so ago, Worrell had asked a second niece if she would prepare some words about him for when his time came. Through rhyming lines delivered with great emotion, she expressed what her uncle meant to her.
After the police and fire vehicles pulled away from the high school to control traffic and lead the processional to the West Branch Municipal Cemetery, a group of 16 or so Harley motorcycles fired up their deep-throated engines to follow.
Nearly 100 vehicles, including the motorcycles, joined in the processional, stretching more than a mile long.
The processional drove east on Main Street to Downey, then north on Downey to Orange, then up on Maple to the cemetery.
Along the route were several of the 175 flags set out for Flag Day by the West Branch Lions Club. The club decided to leave the flags out until after the funeral.
The West Branch City Council, set to meet June 22, postponed its meeting until June 29.
Casey’s General Store placed a collection box on its counter to help raise money for the Worrell family.
At Friday’s four-hour visitation, the line to get into Henderson-Barker Funeral Home stretched outside until after its scheduled end time of 7 p.m.
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