Delbert Lee "Coal Miner" Fairburn was born at home, 765 S. Main Street, Canton, IL, on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1927. The eighth child of Terrance Adam "Tom" and Nellie Pearl (Weaver) Fairburn.
He married Mary Coita Groff on June 2, 1948 at the church parsonage in Canton, with Reverend Willis Reed officiating. She preceded him in death on November 11, 2014.
They were the parents of five children: Deborah (John) Lopes of Mt. Pleasant, MI; Rebecca (Marvin) Westlake of Mt. Carmel; Diane (Gary) Westlake of Bader; Scott Fairburn of Astoria and Julie (Bill) Troutman of Rushville. They had 9 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and 1 great-great-grandson. They were also the "Honorary" parents of Ron (Melinda) Parsano of Vermont and Janet Kirby of Astoria. They had 6 honorary grandchildren, 9 honorary great-grandchildren, and 1 honorary great-great-granddaughter.
Delbert held several jobs over the years and retired from AMAX Sunspot Mine where he worked for 23 years. He served in the US Army from 1945-1946 as a Military Police Officer. He was a member of the UMWA and former member of the IOOF Lodge and Moose Lodge. His hobbies were doing electrical work and bowling.
Delbert was preceded in death by his parents, 3 sisters: Lucille (Bruce) Lingenfelter, Leona (Cecil) Boyer and Marie (Ernie) Hallam; 4 brothers, Hubert (Bernice) Fairburn, Merle (Modelle) Fairburn, Dwayne (Esther) Fairburn and Roland "Breezy" Fairburn; 1 grandson Blake Westlake and his honorary daughter, Janet Kirby.
Services will be held on Friday, January 12, 2018 at 1:00 pm at Shawgo Memorial Home in Astoria. Ted Shirley will officiate. Visitation will be held on Thursday, January 11th from 5-8 pm at the funeral home. Interment will be in the Woodland Cemetery in Astoria, IL with full military rites provided by the Astoria American Legion Post #25. Memorials may be made to the Astoria Fire and Rescue Squad.
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