MOUNT DORA, Fla.- Basil W. Huntley, 78, of Mount Dora, Fla., died peacefully Thursday, June 22, at Waterman Hospital.

He was born May 22, 1928, in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of Everett C. Huntley and Thelma (Savage Huntley) DeCoster. He grew up in Auburn and graduated from Edward Little High School, Class of 1946.

He joined the U.S. Navy in 1946, serving on the USS Macon, aiding in the World War II cleanup effort.

He then graduated from New England Institute of Anatomy in Boston and worked for Jenkin’s Funeral Home in Lewiston as a state-licensed funeral director and embalmer.

In the mid 1950s, he began a successful management career in Sears stores throughout Maine and Massachusetts, retiring in the late 1970s.

He was a proud member of the Mason’s Tranquil Lodge AF & AM No. 29 in Auburn, receiving his 50 years of service veterans’ medal in 2000. He was an Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite member of the Consistory Scottish rite bodies in the Valley of Portland. He was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Eustis, Fla. He also belonged to the AmVets Post 1992 in Mount Dora, Fla., and the Fraternal Order of Eagles 4131 in New Gloucester.

Surviving are his wife, Margaret “Terry” Hall of Mount Dora, Fla.; three daughters, Patricia Haendler and her husband, Steve, of Lee, N.H., Donna Allen and her husband, Bill, of Portland and Sharon Huntley-Brown and her husband, Richard Brown, of New Gloucester; three stepsons, Brian Mang and his partner, Kathy Florian, of Tavares, Fla., Bruce Mang and his wife, Lisa, of Dolgeville, N.Y. and Kenneth “Chip” Mang and his partner, Anne Fleels, of South Daytona, Fla.; five grandchildren; five stepgrandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his brother, Richard; and his first wife, Margaret Hamlin Huntley.