Chester Bingaman (96) of Brownstown

Chester Glen Bingaman, 96, of Brownstown died at 11:41pm Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at Fayette County Hospital Long-Term Care Unit in Vandalia.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 27 at Gieseking-Claggett Funeral Home in Brownstown with Jim Dann officiating. Burial with military rites by Brownstown VFW Post #9770 will follow at Fairlawn Cemetery, Vandalia. Visitation will be for one hour prior to service time. Memorials to Brownstown VFW Post #9770, of which he was a charter member.

Online condolences may be left by clicking here.

He was born in rural Vandalia on November 5, 1920 to Henry B. and Maude (Ashcroft) Bingaman. After graduating from Jacksonville College, he was commissioned an Ensign in the US Navy and served in the Pacific in WW II, initially as a gunnery officer aboard the battleship USS Mississippi and later as commander of LSM 183. After being released from active duty as a lieutenant at the conclusion of WW II, he was an auditor, minor league baseball umpire and owned the Sports Center on Gallatin Street in Vandalia for many years.

Survivors include nieces and nephews, Fred Bingaman of Brownstown, Brent Locke of Decatur, Sherill (Bingaman) Parton of Huntsville, Alabama, Joe Locke of Kerrville, Texas and Cynthia (Locke) Villegas of Phoenix, Arizona.

He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Floyd Bingaman and sister, Edna (Bingaman) Locke.