1923
Norbert
2014
Norbert Bussen
July 25, 1923 — August 21, 2014
Lifelong Logan County and Wallace County resident Norbert “Norb” Bussen, 91, passed away Thursday, August 21, 2014, at Logan County Manor in Oakley, Kansas.
He was born July 25, 1923, near Tipton, Kansas, the son and fourth child of nine, of Barbara M. (Fueser) and Theodore J. Bussen. When Norb was three years old, the family moved to a farm one mile southeast of Wallace, Kansas, when his dad became the manager of a grain elevator at Wallace. He attended first grade at the Wallace Grade School. They later moved to a farm just over into Logan County, and Norb attended Gill School through the eighth grade.
He served his country in the United States Navy during World War II, completing basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and serving aboard the destroyer ‘Hillery P. Jones, D.D.427’ as a machinist mate. He and his shipmates were able to watch from a distance as President Truman walked up the gangplank onto the ‘Missouri’ to sign the Peace Treaty on September 6, 1945.
On February 3, 1947, he and Joanne L. Kennedy were married and to this union three sons and eight daughters were born. He was a farmer, rancher, and mechanic. For twenty-five years, he as a school bus mechanic and bus driver for the Winona Schools. He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was proud to donate blood to the Red Cross. Hunting, fishing, especially with his friends, children, and grandchildren, were times he loved. He was well known for raising watermelons and potatoes that he sold to the public, and he almost always planted rows of zinnias wherever they lived. Norb and Joanne raised pheasants and released them into the wild, when they lived on a farm south of Monument.
Norb suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and moved into the Logan County Manor in September of 2006, and Joanne moved there to be with him in the spring of 2009.
Preceding him in death were his wife Joanne; two sons Michael James and Daniel Joseph; granddaughter Carmen Bussen; his parents; three brothers Nicholas, Leo, and Lawrence and his wife Rosalie; one sister Leona Nutsch and her husband Edwin; brothers-in-law Duane Whitham, Howard Boyer, Gary Kennedy and his wife Marilyn, and Waldo Hoss; and son-in-law Raymond Haremza.
Surviving family includes his son Edward Bussen and his wife Rose of Hays; daughters Patricia Haremza of Winona; Theresa Dickerson of Oakley; Virginia Popp and her husband Ron of Sharon Springs; Barbara Butz and her husband Richard of Pilot Point, Texas; Kathleen Bussen of Edmond, Oklahoma; Christina Hoyt and her husband Keith of Brewster; Angela Goudy and her husband Mark of Deerfield; and Loretta Bussen of Burbank, California; sister Margaret Hoss; brothers Jerome Bussen, Raymond Bussen and his wife Shirley, all of Wallace, and Richard Bussen and his wife Antoinette of Armada, Michigan; sisters-in-law Dolores Bussen and Dorothy Bussen, both of Wallace; Audrey Boyer of Fairland, Oklahoma; Reta Whitham of Siloam Springs, Arkansas; brother-in-law Beryle Kennedy and his wife Dixie of Goodman, Missouri; nineteen grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be on Tuesday, August 26, at 10:00 AM Central Time, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Oakley, with Father Donald Pfannenstiel and Father Norbert Dlabal presiding. Burial will be in the Wallace Cemetery on Tuesday at 2:00 PM Mountain Time (3:00 PM Central Time).
Friends may share their respects on Monday, from 4:30 until 6:30 PM Mountain Time, at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Sharon Springs. Vigil and rosary will follow at 6:30 PM Mountain Time.
Memorials may be designated to the Norb Bussen Memorial, and may be left at the services, or mailed to Koons Funeral Home, 211 N. Main, Goodland, KS 67735-1555.
Online condolences and guest register: www.koonsfuneralhome.com
He was born July 25, 1923, near Tipton, Kansas, the son and fourth child of nine, of Barbara M. (Fueser) and Theodore J. Bussen. When Norb was three years old, the family moved to a farm one mile southeast of Wallace, Kansas, when his dad became the manager of a grain elevator at Wallace. He attended first grade at the Wallace Grade School. They later moved to a farm just over into Logan County, and Norb attended Gill School through the eighth grade.
He served his country in the United States Navy during World War II, completing basic training at Great Lakes, Illinois, and serving aboard the destroyer ‘Hillery P. Jones, D.D.427’ as a machinist mate. He and his shipmates were able to watch from a distance as President Truman walked up the gangplank onto the ‘Missouri’ to sign the Peace Treaty on September 6, 1945.
On February 3, 1947, he and Joanne L. Kennedy were married and to this union three sons and eight daughters were born. He was a farmer, rancher, and mechanic. For twenty-five years, he as a school bus mechanic and bus driver for the Winona Schools. He was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church, Knights of Columbus, and Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was proud to donate blood to the Red Cross. Hunting, fishing, especially with his friends, children, and grandchildren, were times he loved. He was well known for raising watermelons and potatoes that he sold to the public, and he almost always planted rows of zinnias wherever they lived. Norb and Joanne raised pheasants and released them into the wild, when they lived on a farm south of Monument.
Norb suffered from Parkinson’s Disease and moved into the Logan County Manor in September of 2006, and Joanne moved there to be with him in the spring of 2009.
Preceding him in death were his wife Joanne; two sons Michael James and Daniel Joseph; granddaughter Carmen Bussen; his parents; three brothers Nicholas, Leo, and Lawrence and his wife Rosalie; one sister Leona Nutsch and her husband Edwin; brothers-in-law Duane Whitham, Howard Boyer, Gary Kennedy and his wife Marilyn, and Waldo Hoss; and son-in-law Raymond Haremza.
Surviving family includes his son Edward Bussen and his wife Rose of Hays; daughters Patricia Haremza of Winona; Theresa Dickerson of Oakley; Virginia Popp and her husband Ron of Sharon Springs; Barbara Butz and her husband Richard of Pilot Point, Texas; Kathleen Bussen of Edmond, Oklahoma; Christina Hoyt and her husband Keith of Brewster; Angela Goudy and her husband Mark of Deerfield; and Loretta Bussen of Burbank, California; sister Margaret Hoss; brothers Jerome Bussen, Raymond Bussen and his wife Shirley, all of Wallace, and Richard Bussen and his wife Antoinette of Armada, Michigan; sisters-in-law Dolores Bussen and Dorothy Bussen, both of Wallace; Audrey Boyer of Fairland, Oklahoma; Reta Whitham of Siloam Springs, Arkansas; brother-in-law Beryle Kennedy and his wife Dixie of Goodman, Missouri; nineteen grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, and friends.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be on Tuesday, August 26, at 10:00 AM Central Time, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Oakley, with Father Donald Pfannenstiel and Father Norbert Dlabal presiding. Burial will be in the Wallace Cemetery on Tuesday at 2:00 PM Mountain Time (3:00 PM Central Time).
Friends may share their respects on Monday, from 4:30 until 6:30 PM Mountain Time, at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Sharon Springs. Vigil and rosary will follow at 6:30 PM Mountain Time.
Memorials may be designated to the Norb Bussen Memorial, and may be left at the services, or mailed to Koons Funeral Home, 211 N. Main, Goodland, KS 67735-1555.
Online condolences and guest register: www.koonsfuneralhome.com
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