Darrell Gainey

Darrell "Diz" Gainey, 84, of Orion, died Saturday, June 29, 2019, at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House in Bettendorf.  Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, July 8th, at the Orion United Methodist Church.  Rev. David Schultz will officiate.  Burial will be in Grace Church Cemetery, rural Osco.  Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the church.  Memorials may be made to the Darrell Gainey Memorial Fund.  Stackhouse-Moore Funeral & Cremation Services, Cambridge, is assisting the family with the arrangements.

Darrell Dean Gainey was born October 5, 1934 in Moline, the son of Guy and Martha Miller Gainey.  He was educated in a rural country school and graduated from Orion High School in 1952.  His marriage to Betty Crouch    took place on August 21, 1954 in Andover.  They were happily married for over 64 years.  He worked at the Farmall plant in Rock Island until it closed in 1986.  Darrell then was employed at Valley View Club in Cambridge as golf course superintendent until 1995, when he went to work at Maple Bluff Golf Course in Geneseo.  After working there for four years, he worked as groundskeeper for the Western Township Cemetery in Orion until retiring in 2010.

He enjoyed playing fast pitch softball in his earlier years, and Darrell also enjoyed bowling and golf.  His memberships include the Orion United Methodist Church, the Sherman Lodge No. 535, AF & AM, and the Order of the Eastern Star, all of Orion.  He was a diehard St. Louis Cardinal, Chicago Bears, and Fighting Illini fan.

Those surviving are his wife, Betty, his children, Brad (Diane) Gainey, Orion, Joann (Kerry) Gannon, Orion, Tami (Jerry) McCormick, Lawrenceburg, IN, Jeff (Erin) Gainey, St. Charles, IL, and Bruce (Heather) Gainey, Cambridge.  Other survivors include eight grandchildren, Matthew Gainey. Stephen (Danielle) Gainey, Mark (Lauren) Gannon, Heather (Jamie) Stringer, Justin McCormick, Michael (Diane) Gainey, Elizabeth Gainey, and Nicholas Gainey, four great grandchildren, Aidan and Avery Stringer, and Henry and Mae Gainey, two brothers, Thomas "Gus" (Nancy) Gainey, Orion, Gene "Geno" (Jean) Gainey, AZ, and a sister, Evelyn "Hess" Rexroad, Peoria, AZ.  His parents, a granddaughter, Kaitlin Gainey, a daughter-in-law, Loretta Gainey, a brother, Mervin "Barney" Gainey, and a sister, Loretta "Punkie" Hallquist, preceded him in death.