Ernest Lee Dibble Jr., 54, of Poncic Road, East Brady, died at 2:10 a.m. Tuesday at the ACMH Hospital, Kittanning, after an illness.

Born in Ball Club, Minn., Feb. 10, 1952, he was a son of the late Ernest L. Sr. and Maybelle Trembath Dibble.

He as affiliated with the St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, Bradys Bend.

Mr. Dibble attended schools in Deer River, Minn.; and following graduation from high school, he attended the Duluth Area Institute of Technology.

He served in the Navy from 1972 until 1976 and attained the rank of E-5. He was a member of the American Legion Kaylor Post 488 of Bradys Bend and the VFW post in Deer Run, Minn.

He was a distillation operator at Indspec Chemical Corp. in Petrolia for the past 27 years.

Surviving are his wife, Kathryn H. Hindman Dibble, whom he married Oct. 10, 1998, in East Brady; four sons, Preston Dibble and his wife, Mary, of New Jersey, Justin Dibble of Erie, Joshua Dibble and his wife, Sarah, of Everett, Wash., and Robert Hindman and his wife, Rebecca, of Karns City; two daughters, Amy Birckbichler and her husband, Kurt, of Slippery Rock and Colleen Fornelli and her husband, Robert, of Chicora; and three grandchildren, Joshua and Leah Warburton and Chloe Dibble.

A brother, David Dibble and his wife, Jerry, of New Mexico; a sister, Linda Boyer and her husband, Samuel, of Colorado; and several nieces and nephews also survive.

He was preceded in death by a brother, Richard Dibble, who died this year; and two grandchildren, Casey Warburton, who died Jan. 1, 2000, and Sarah Hindman, who died Sept. 31, 2005.

<B>DIBBLE </B>— Friends of Ernest Lee Dibble Jr., who died Tuesday, June 27, 2006, will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the <B>Richard D. Hillis Funeral Home</B>, 102 Argyle St., Petrolia. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, Bradys Bend, with the Rev. Anthony Ditto officiating. Burial, with full military honors, will follow at the Bear Creek Cemetery, Petrolia.