Palmyra Banker Bud Voyles dies

Yesterday was a sad day in Palmyra as the community learned that Loren E. (Bud) Voyles had died unexpectedly at Harrison County Hospital in Corydon. He was 73.
Rose Mary Ponder of Palmyra had worked with Voyles 28 years at Harrison County Bank in the Harrison County’s second largest town.
“It’s been a sad day for us,” said Ponder, who was a cashier and vice president at the bank while Voyles was president.
Voyles, a native of Washington County, was employed at the bank from 1957 until he retired as bank president in 1991. He continued to serve on the board of directors until April 24, 2002.
“He was a very hard-working person,” Ponder said. “As a boss, he expected you to do your best. Working for him made you a better person.”
Voyles also was a family man, who “did a lot” for his four children and seven grandchildren, Ponder said.
The family enjoyed camping, and Voyles and just completed a camping trip to Branson, Mo., before school started earlier this month. He and his wife of 53 years, the former Joellen Jean Owsley, had another camping trip planned for October.
A 1947 graduate of Pekin High School, Voyles was a veteran of the Korean War, a former Pekin school trustee, a deacon at Fredericksburg Church of Christ, and was a member of the River Boat Sam’s Camping Club, Chapter 53, in Jeffersonville.
Voyles was a founding member of the Buffalo Trace Park.
“This spring, Bud was walking in the park and saw a garden that had weeds in it,” Ponder said. “He stopped and weeded the garden. That’s just the kind of person he was.”
Harrison County Councilman Alvin Brown of Palmyra called Voyles “a great community leader.
“Everybody loved Bud,” he said. “He did a lot for the community,” including giving loans to entrepreneurs that allowed them to start businesses in Palmyra.
“He is really going to be missed in the Palmyra area,” Brown said.
Survivors besides his wife include three sons, Joel Eugene, John David and James Edward Voyles, all of Palmyra; a daughter, Lorna Desire Wenning of Palmyra; a brother, Carl Ray Voyles; three sisters, Lucille Sears, Imogene Marshall and Joyce Motsinger, and seven grandchildren.
Visitation is tomorrow (Thursday) from noon to 8 p.m. and after 9 a.m. Friday at Love Funeral Home in Palmyra.
The funeral is Friday at 1 p.m. at the funeral home with burial in the Martinsburg Cemetery.