| Notes |
- Wayne Lavern Roberts
March 02, 1931 - February 18, 2011
Elkhart, Kansas
Graveside Service: 2:00 PM, Sunday, February 20, 2011 at Elkhart Cemetery in Elkhart, Kansas with Pastor Jim Cunningham officiating.
Interment: Elkhart Cemetery in Elkhart, Kansas.
In lieu of flowers memorials may be given to ?Grammy?s Kids? for underprivileged children, or Morton County Fair Rodeo both in care of Garnand Funeral Home, P.O. Box 854, Elkhart, Kansas 67950.
Wayne, or ?Tex?, as he was known to some, passed away February 18, 2011 in a Wichita, Kansas hospital, almost exactly a year after his heart was broken when he lost his wife, Velma, of 57 years. Wayne Lavern Roberts was born on March 2, 1931 and raised in Chadron Nebraska, the 7th child of 8 children born to Mayfield Harrington Roberts and Rita Marie Wilsey Roberts. Wayne was six years old when his father left his mother to support the family alone, along with the help of his oldest brother. After two years of high school, in 1951, Wayne passed his GED and joined the Marine Corp, serving 16 months, stationed at Camp Pendleton, Oceanside California.
On November 12, 1952, he married Velma Littrel, also of Chadron NE. Two daughters were born from this union, Lori Lee and Julie Rae. The family lived and moved to various places in Nebraska while Wayne worked primarily as a brand inspector for the State, all the while practicing the art of rodeo, participating in bareback riding, bull riding, calf roping, steer-dogging, and team roping. In 1966 the couple moved to Elkhart, Kansas and assumed ownership of the El Rancho Motel and Dineteria, where they lived for most of the next 44 years to make it home. During this time and into August, 2010, Wayne had his own order buyer business, buying, selling, trading cattle and horses. Even during a brief period while they owned motels in Childress, Texas and McPhearson, Kansas, he continued to familiarize himself with the local cowboys and sale barns, and every town in 5 states has residents who knew him. Later on in life, after 13 surgeries, surviving prostate cancer and stints placed in his heart, he hung up the bareback riggin?, quit jumping off horses at a full gallop onto steers, stopped chasing and throwing calves at the end of his rope, and stuck to team roping with his grandsons and many friends. He was a great teacher of this sport he loved so much, and helped many kids learn to throw the rope just right?even his great grandsons have his natural ability and were learning and watching from the time they could stand!
Survivors include two brothers, Jim and wife ?Scotty? Roberts of Burwell, NE, Bobby and wife Barb Roberts of Phoenix, AZ; sisters-in-law, Evelyn Roberts of Phoenix, AZ, June Roberts of Yuba City, CA; two daughters and their husbands, Lori and Jay D Coen, Julie and Gary Talbert, all of Elkhart, KS, grandchildren, Dusty and Tracy Fowler of Turpin, OK, Brice and Robyn Priest Kadel of Colorado Springs, CO, Nickolas and Kory Fowler of Scott City, KS, Marci Priest and David Bhutto of Oklahoma City, OK, Gavin and Sheena Fowler Trahern of Bartlesville, OK, Brett and Michelle Coen Flory of Park City, KS, Jace Coen of Joplin, MO, and Landon Coen of Colorado Springs, CO. The people he loved spending time with the most and telling cute stories about were is great-grandchildren, Braxton, Reagan, and Riley Fowler, Mialyn Bhutto, Brooke Cooper, and Shelbry Bond. It was then that he could play and act like a child himself, teaching them to ?hold the rope?, shoot marbles and pool, making ?finger traps? and Indian burns with his great, big, cowboy hands.
He was preceded in death by his wife, parents, and five siblings, Victor Roberts, Roberta Roberts Drullinger, Wilbur Roberts, LaVonne Roberts Williams, and Hilda Roberts Whiting.
|
1931 - 2011 (79 years)