Obituary

Dr. William C. Dreese, 83, Halstead, died January 4, 2000 at the Halstead Hospital. He was born February 3, 1916 at Halstead, the son of Curtis B. and Alice Ruby Charlton Dreese. He was a retired surgeon, retirintg after 36 years at the Hertzler Clinic in Halstead.
He was a 1934 graduate of Halsted High School, a 1939 graduate of the University of Kansas with a B.A. degree and in 1942 he graduated from Kansas University with a M.D. degree. He then took his internship at St. Francis Hospital in Wichita. He was a U.S. Navy Veteran and served with a U.S. Marine unit during World War II from 1943 to 1945 in the Pacific Theater. He also completed a three-year surgical residency at the Veterans Hospital in New Orleans, Louisiana.

He was a member of the Halstead Presbyterian Church, the S.W. Surgical Congress, a fellow in the American College of Surgeons, a member of the American Medical Society, the Kansas Medical Society and the Harvey County Medical Society. He was also a former Halstead Lions Club member and a former member of the Halstead Board of Education. His interests aside from medicine were ham radio and theater organ music.

He married Anna Marie Hurt on September 16, 1941 at Topeka. She survives. Other survivors include two sons, Curtis Dreese, Spokane, Washington and Greg Dreese, Arvada, Colorado; daughter Debra Mallory, Arvada, Colorado; three grandchildren. He was preceded in death by one brother, James P. Dreese.

Private burial was in the Halstead Cemetery. A memorial service will be held Saturday January 15 at the First Presbyterian Church in Halstead. Memorials to the American Diabetes Association.