Merlin Dreibelbis ’39

Honorary Trustee Merlin “Pat” D. Dreibelbis ’39 died Sept. 10, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at age 97.

While at Cornell, he enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, received his pilot’s license, and later became an instructor pilot for Hunter Flying Service and other private flying companies, as well as the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, he was an employee of John Deere in Wyoming prior to accepting a position with the Citizens State Bank in Belle Plaine, Iowa, where he became an officer. He retired from the bank in the early 1980s.

Survivors include his wife, Minnie, a brother, two daughters, a son, two stepdaughters, a nephew, seven grandchildren, two great-granddaughters, and several other step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.