BELTON — Services for Otheil Justus “Swede” Erlund, 87, of Moody will be at 2 p.m. today at Moody-Leon United Methodist Church in Moody.

Burial will be in Moody-Leon Cemetery.

He died Wednesday, July 4, at a Temple hospital.

Mr. Erlund was born in Crosby to Adolph Justus Erlund and Othelia Augusta Wahl Erlund. He was a schoolteacher. After World War II, he had also worked briefly as a game biologist for the Texas Fish and Game Commission. He then spent the remainder of his career in the field of education, working as a schoolteacher for school districts in Center Point, Comfort, New Braunfels, Timpson and Teneha. He also taught school at the American Preparatory Institute at Central Texas College. He served three years as superintendent of schools with the Gary school district and 16 years as elementary principal with the Moody school district. He retired from the Moody school district in 2000 at the age of 80 after 50 years in the education field.

He served a commissioned officer in the 30th Infantry Division 117th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, Company E in France and Belgium during World War II. He fought during the Battle of the Bulge. He served as an Honor Guard at the signing of the Armistice. His military awards include the Silver Star with Oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star with oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Service Cross, two Presidential Unit Citations, two Purple Hearts and the Legion of Merit from France. He was discharged from the U.S. Army as a Captain in November 1948.

He was reared in Crosby and received a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M in 1943. He was also a charter member of the Texas A&M Singing Cadets. He received a master’s degree from Trinity University in San Antonio and received a Ph.D. from Texas A&M in 1975. He married Cecilia Wharton on Aug. 1, 1976, in Waco. He was a member of the Moody Lions Club, where he had served as president and song leader. He was also a member of Moody-Leon United Methodist Church in Moody, where he served many years as Sunday School superintendent, was a Sunday School teacher, served on the pastor-parish relations committee and other administrative committees.

Survivors include his wife, of Moody; three sons, Otheil J. Erlund Jr. of Comfort, Luther Penn Erlund of West Dundee, Ill., and John McClure Price of Moody; three daughters, Julia Elizabeth “Beth” Erlund of Evergreen, Colo., Ellen Virginia Lucas of Kerrville and Merrie Daune Price of Moody; 10 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Erlund Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton

Visitation will be 9 a.m.-noon today at Dossman Funeral Home in Belton.