William M. Moody

William M. Moody, 82, of Harpers Ferry, IA, died Thursday, January 8, 2026, at his home. Memorial services will be held Saturday, January 17th, at 11:00 AM at Martin - Grau Funeral Home in Waukon, IA, with Lynn Moody officiating, and will also be livestreamed on the funeral home’s facebook page: www.facebook.com/martinfunerals. Friends may greet the family from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM Friday at the funeral home. A celebration of life will then be held at Portside in Harpers Ferry on Saturday, January 17th, from 2:00 PM – 6:00 PM. A private family burial will take place at a later date in St. Joesph’s Paint Rock Cemetery in Harpers Ferry. With Bill’s love of the Iowa Hawkeye football, wrestling, and basketball teams, the family requests that everyone wear your Iowa black and gold gear to both the memorial service and the Celebration of Life.

     William “Bill” Martin Moody was born on September 20, 1943, to James and Veronica (Muench) Moody in McGregor, IA. He attended Fairview #5 country school through eighth grade; after closing, the school was purchased by his father and eventually became his home. From ninth grade on, he attended Waukon High School, graduating in 1961. His senior year, Bill served as the President of the FFA Chapter, excelled at both football and wrestling, and was named all-conference in both sports for multiple years. He accomplished all of this despite contracting polio at nine years old and spending time in the University of Iowa Hospital for several weeks.

     Having graduated at age 17, Bill drove school bus for Waukon schools and some of his passengers were older than him. He worked for Wright Tree Service for two years as well. In 1963, Bill met the love of his life Patricia Bulman from Harpers Ferry (this was also the same weekend President John F. Kennedy was assassinated). They were later married on June 8, 1965, at St Joseph’s Catholic Church-Paint Rock in rural Harpers Ferry. To this union, four children were born: Peggy, Michael, Laurie, and Shawn; Peggy died as infant at five months old.

     Bill and Pat made their home in the old one-room Fairview #5 schoolhouse. This would be the only home for both of them throughout their 60 plus years of marriage other than living at their parents’ homes while growing up. In January of 1965, he entered the Wisconsin National Guard. While serving for the next six years, Bill also worked for Morgan Construction Company doing highway construction. He then worked for Dagnon Motors in Prairie du Chien, WI, as a mechanic in 1966. Later that same year, he returned full-time to Waukon schools as a bus driver and service person. After the school burned in a fire, students along with the food needed to be transported to different buildings and different temporary classrooms. He was at the school for the next 14 years, and also worked on the 350-acre family farm with his dad until 1976, when he and Patricia purchased the farm, raising beef, dairy, hogs, and crops. Bill did custom work stacking corn stalks and planted many acres of corn with the no-till method, which was a rather new practice in this area at the time. Bill sold ICI-Garst Seed Corn for several years as well and retired from farming in 1998.

     While practicing environmentally friendly methods of farming, Bill received the environmental award for Wildlife Farmer of the Year in 1988 from the Allamakee County Soil and Water Conservation District; also that year, he received the Iowa Wildlife Farmer of the Year for his outstanding efforts in wildlife conservation and management from the Iowa DNR. To this date, Bill is the only person to ever receive these awards. He also won a conservation award from the NE Iowa Full Strut Chapter in 2000.

     Throughout his life, Bill enjoyed hunting and being outdoors. One of his greatest enjoyments was coon hunting with the Blue Tick Coonhounds he raised and trained. He would go hunting every night, especially if his buddy and neighbor Tom McCormick stopped by; it wasn’t unusual for them to go coon hunting multiple nights in a row. Bill also enjoyed hunting whitetail deer with his friends, family, and eventually his own children and grandchildren. He hosted “deer camp” for many seasons at the Moody Farm. Many lifelong friendships were formed, and MANY tall tales were told. No matter the weather, he went on many stands and led multiple drives on his own farm as well as the land of hunting companions. Then in 1997, Bill shot an Iowa Record-Boone and Crocket Club typical buck that scored 175 4/8 inches!

     His other outdoor interest was playing softball. When the game of semi-fast softball made its way to the area, Bill was often asked to play on multiple teams because of his pitching ability. He says it’s why he was able to play until the age of 57. Not that the game came without some injuries, as the “kids” he played against continued to get younger and hit the ball harder. However, the respect they had for his pitching was always evident as younger players would often comment that they never liked coming to the ball field and seeing they had to bat against Bill. He played for the Harpers Ferry American Legion team for many years. Some of the guys he played with here were also played with him on the Keatley Oil softball team from Lansing. They would do traveling tournaments like the Iowa Semi-Fast Association State Tournament; in 1989, they placed in the top 10 teams of the state.

     Other interests in Bill’s life were his clubs and civic organizations like the Harpers Ferry Fire Department, where he served for over 60 years, including as Assistant Chief for several years and was chosen to be Fireman of the Year in 2001. He also served as a First Responder on the Harpers Ferry Rescue Squad.

     Bill was one of the few good men to start the Allamakee County Sportsman’s Club in 1968, located on the west side of Waukon, and still an active club today. In 1984, he helped organize the Allamakee County Whitetails and was an original board member for many years, along with being an original member of the Allamakee County Conservation Board, serving for 31 years and retiring in February of 2020. Bill was a member in good standing of the Harpers Ferry American Legion Post 722 for 42 years. Bill served on the Allamakee County Extension Council, the Allamakee Clayton REC Board of Directors for 18 years, the USDA Ag Stabilization and Conservation Committee for 10 years. and was as a Fairview Township Trustee until the time of his death.

     Bill worked for Jeff Mitchell Excavating, Dave Cota Electric, and played an active part in the development of the Deer Tracks Log Cabin Community He was one of the founding members and president of the Rossville Sno-Goers Snowmobile Club. He also did private skid steer work for many in the Harpers Ferry area.

     Bill is survived by his wife of over 60 years, Patricia; his three children: Michael (Jackie) Moody, Laurie (Randy Olson) Moody, and Shawn (Gayla) Moody; 11 grandchildren: Dustin (Whitney Deering) Moody, Cody (Chelsea) Moody, Cole (Emilee) Moody, Tanner (Courtney Rose) Moody, Faith (Trevor) Watson, Blain Moody, Lindsay (Brandon) Tieskoetter, Whitney (Dennis) Link, Haylee and Ryan Olson, and Lukas (Margaret) Olson; 14 great-grandchildren: Iris and Ivy Moody, Mercadees Dahlstrom, Mason, Rozlyn, and Mackay Moody, Emery Watson, Carter and Kendyl Deering, Rae Van Milligan, Allie, Lexie, and Brice Tieskoetter, and Lyle Olson; four siblings: Donna Amfahr, Dorothy (Donald) Hitchins, Eilene (Vernon) Cooper, and Lynn (Pat) Moody; two sisters-in-law: Mary (Marv) Schlichte and Evaun Bulman; and a brother-in-law Anthony Bulman.

     He was preceded in death by his daughter Peggy Ann Moody; his parents James and Veronica Moody; two brothers: Bob and Paul Moody; a sister Mary Wachter; his father- and mother-in-law Donald and Loretta Bulman; five brothers-in-law: Jim Wachter, Bob Miner, Jerry Amfahr, and James and Gerald Bulman; two sisters-in-law: Dori and Eiko Bulman; and a granddaughter Jessica Krumwiede.

     Honorary urnbearers are Pat Cota, Jim Mason, Tom McCormick, Dave Monserud, Joe Hogan, Dave Kleinow, Jerry Neuhaus, Greg Kiehn, Tim Bulman, Paul Melsha, Don Bernhard, Raymond Boland, Tony Link, Don McCormick, Bob Saddler, Steve Hanson, and Paul Kaeser. Urnbearers are Dustin, Tanner, Cody, Cole, and Blain Moody, and Faith Watson.

     Special acknowledgement is given to the Harpers Ferry Fire and Rescue Department Members, the Moody Farm Deer Hunting Crew, past and present Allamakee County Conservation Board and Allamakee/Clayton REC Board members, Harpers Ferry American Legion Semi-Fast Softball Team Members, and Bill’s team of in-home healthcare providers from VMH Home Health and WinnMed Hospice.

     Online condolences may be left at www.martinfunerals.com.