Some love stories are meant to last forever and such was their story. Earl Robert (Bob) Ketchem, 83, born April 18th, 1936, in Bakersfield, California, and Shirley Ann (Ballard) Ketchem, 81, born March 18th, 1938, in Neal Township, Arkansas, married on February 26, 1957. Bob passed away in his sleep on the morning of May 30th, 2019, after a short battle with brain cancer. Later that morning Shirley, his bride of 63 years, suffered heart failure and joined him when her broken heart could not stand the pain of being parted from her husband, she had spent her life beside. They resided in Meriden, Kansas, and wintered in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where they passed.
They were preceded in death by their parents Earl and Mary Ketchem and Paul and Nina Ballard, and their sons, Steven and Perry, Bob’s sister, Beverly, and Shirley’s brothers Terry and Donny Ballard. They are survived by their children, John (Sue) Ketchem of Chicago, Illinois, Laurie (Tom) Gormley of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Mark (Christy) Ketchem of Meriden, daughter-in-law, DoeDee Ketchem of Wichita, Kansas, and 22 grand children and great grandchildren that they loved, adored and had wonderful relationships with. Bob is survived by his cousin, Gerry Van Winkle Morris of Arizona, and Shirley is survived by her sisters, Brenda Dooley and Janice Dumler and brothers, Danny and Jerry Ballard all of California.
Shortly after they met, Bob joined the Air Force and served 20 years, so they were frequently parted. It’s no surprise that their song was “P.S.: I Love You”. They would travel the world together and eventually settle in Meriden. Bob continued to provide for his family and worked for multiple medical diagnostic companies, finally really retiring in the same career as a civil servant at Fort Riley, Kansas. This was fitting considering his loyalty to country and fierce patriotism. Education was important to him and he attended professional and college classes whenever possible. He encouraged everyone in his circle of family and friends to constantly pursue education and advancement opportunities. He was the ultimate handyman and could fix anything, a skill he tried to pass on to his sons and grandson with varying degrees of success. His hobbies were woodworking and flying his Piper Cherokee 180. Friends and family routinely sought his wise council. His sense of humor and warm chuckle drew others in.
Shirley was the glue that kept the family together. She made any house a home, whether it was their first apartment where cardboard boxes were draped in fabric to make tables and kitchen towels were sewn into curtains or their final home in Meriden where she said there was always room for family even if she had to hang them on a hook. Bob learned to accept that making a proper home really did require five million silk flowers, 20 bed pillows per bed and boxes upon boxes of decorations for every holiday. Anyone who knew her, knew holidays meant family and family meant everything to her. If she wasn’t tending her family, she was tending her flowers and feeding her birds. Shirley cared deeply for everyone and she always knew when the mail carrier was sick or the clerk at the grocery store was having car trouble. Everyone she touched benefitted from her beautiful loving spirit.
Joint Services will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, June 8th, 2019, at Meriden United Methodist Church. Visitation will 1:00 to 2:00 PM prior to services. Burial, with U.S. Air Force Honors for Bob, will follow at Meriden Cemetery. Rest assured that they will leave this world just as we were accustomed to seeing them. Bob’s tie will coordinate beautifully with Shirley’s outfit. They were quite a pair.
In lieu of flowers, Memorials suggested to Kansas Honor Flights, P.O. Box 2371, Hutchinson, KS 67504 or the Ketchem memorial fund Meriden United Methodist Church, 100 Dawson St., Meriden, KS, 66512, and sent in care of Barnett Family Funeral Home, P.O. Box 602, Oskaloosa, KS, 66066.
They were preceded in death by their parents Earl and Mary Ketchem and Paul and Nina Ballard, and their sons, Steven and Perry, Bob’s sister, Beverly, and Shirley’s brothers Terry and Donny Ballard. They are survived by their children, John (Sue) Ketchem of Chicago, Illinois, Laurie (Tom) Gormley of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Mark (Christy) Ketchem of Meriden, daughter-in-law, DoeDee Ketchem of Wichita, Kansas, and 22 grand children and great grandchildren that they loved, adored and had wonderful relationships with. Bob is survived by his cousin, Gerry Van Winkle Morris of Arizona, and Shirley is survived by her sisters, Brenda Dooley and Janice Dumler and brothers, Danny and Jerry Ballard all of California.
Shortly after they met, Bob joined the Air Force and served 20 years, so they were frequently parted. It’s no surprise that their song was “P.S.: I Love You”. They would travel the world together and eventually settle in Meriden. Bob continued to provide for his family and worked for multiple medical diagnostic companies, finally really retiring in the same career as a civil servant at Fort Riley, Kansas. This was fitting considering his loyalty to country and fierce patriotism. Education was important to him and he attended professional and college classes whenever possible. He encouraged everyone in his circle of family and friends to constantly pursue education and advancement opportunities. He was the ultimate handyman and could fix anything, a skill he tried to pass on to his sons and grandson with varying degrees of success. His hobbies were woodworking and flying his Piper Cherokee 180. Friends and family routinely sought his wise council. His sense of humor and warm chuckle drew others in.
Shirley was the glue that kept the family together. She made any house a home, whether it was their first apartment where cardboard boxes were draped in fabric to make tables and kitchen towels were sewn into curtains or their final home in Meriden where she said there was always room for family even if she had to hang them on a hook. Bob learned to accept that making a proper home really did require five million silk flowers, 20 bed pillows per bed and boxes upon boxes of decorations for every holiday. Anyone who knew her, knew holidays meant family and family meant everything to her. If she wasn’t tending her family, she was tending her flowers and feeding her birds. Shirley cared deeply for everyone and she always knew when the mail carrier was sick or the clerk at the grocery store was having car trouble. Everyone she touched benefitted from her beautiful loving spirit.
Joint Services will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, June 8th, 2019, at Meriden United Methodist Church. Visitation will 1:00 to 2:00 PM prior to services. Burial, with U.S. Air Force Honors for Bob, will follow at Meriden Cemetery. Rest assured that they will leave this world just as we were accustomed to seeing them. Bob’s tie will coordinate beautifully with Shirley’s outfit. They were quite a pair.
In lieu of flowers, Memorials suggested to Kansas Honor Flights, P.O. Box 2371, Hutchinson, KS 67504 or the Ketchem memorial fund Meriden United Methodist Church, 100 Dawson St., Meriden, KS, 66512, and sent in care of Barnett Family Funeral Home, P.O. Box 602, Oskaloosa, KS, 66066.
Some love stories are meant to last forever and such was their story. Earl Robert (Bob) Ketchem, 83, born April 18th, 1936, in Bakersfield, California, and Shirley Ann (Ballard) Ketchem, 81, born March 18th, 1938, in Neal Township, Arkansas, married on February 26, 1957. Bob passed away in his sleep on the morning of May 30th, 2019, after a short battle with brain cancer. Later that morning Shirley, his bride of 63 years, suffered heart failure and joined him when her broken heart could not stand the pain of being parted from her husband, she had spent her life beside. They resided in Meriden, Kansas, and wintered in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where they passed.
They were preceded in death by their parents Earl and Mary Ketchem and Paul and Nina Ballard, and their sons, Steven and Perry, Bob’s sister, Beverly, and Shirley’s brothers Terry and Donny Ballard. They are survived by their children, John (Sue) Ketchem of Chicago, Illinois, Laurie (Tom) Gormley of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Mark (Christy) Ketchem of Meriden, daughter-in-law, DoeDee Ketchem of Wichita, Kansas, and 22 grand children and great grandchildren that they loved, adored and had wonderful relationships with. Bob is survived by his cousin, Gerry Van Winkle Morris of Arizona, and Shirley is survived by her sisters, Brenda Dooley and Janice Dumler and brothers, Danny and Jerry Ballard all of California.
Shortly after they met, Bob joined the Air Force and served 20 years, so they were frequently parted. It’s no surprise that their song was “P.S.: I Love You”. They would travel the world together and eventually settle in Meriden. Bob continued to provide for his family and worked for multiple medical diagnostic companies, finally really retiring in the same career as a civil servant at Fort Riley, Kansas. This was fitting considering his loyalty to country and fierce patriotism. Education was important to him and he attended professional and college classes whenever possible. He encouraged everyone in his circle of family and friends to constantly pursue education and advancement opportunities. He was the ultimate handyman and could fix anything, a skill he tried to pass on to his sons and grandson with varying degrees of success. His hobbies were woodworking and flying his Piper Cherokee 180. Friends and family routinely sought his wise council. His sense of humor and warm chuckle drew others in.
Shirley was the glue that kept the family together. She made any house a home, whether it was their first apartment where cardboard boxes were draped in fabric to make tables and kitchen towels were sewn into curtains or their final home in Meriden where she said there was always room for family even if she had to hang them on a hook. Bob learned to accept that making a proper home really did require five million silk flowers, 20 bed pillows per bed and boxes upon boxes of decorations for every holiday. Anyone who knew her, knew holidays meant family and family meant everything to her. If she wasn’t tending her family, she was tending her flowers and feeding her birds. Shirley cared deeply for everyone and she always knew when the mail carrier was sick or the clerk at the grocery store was having car trouble. Everyone she touched benefitted from her beautiful loving spirit.
Joint Services will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, June 8th, 2019, at Meriden United Methodist Church. Visitation will 1:00 to 2:00 PM prior to services. Burial, with U.S. Air Force Honors for Bob, will follow at Meriden Cemetery. Rest assured that they will leave this world just as we were accustomed to seeing them. Bob’s tie will coordinate beautifully with Shirley’s outfit. They were quite a pair.
In lieu of flowers, Memorials suggested to Kansas Honor Flights, P.O. Box 2371, Hutchinson, KS 67504 or the Ketchem memorial fund Meriden United Methodist Church, 100 Dawson St., Meriden, KS, 66512, and sent in care of Barnett Family Funeral Home, P.O. Box 602, Oskaloosa, KS, 66066.
They were preceded in death by their parents Earl and Mary Ketchem and Paul and Nina Ballard, and their sons, Steven and Perry, Bob’s sister, Beverly, and Shirley’s brothers Terry and Donny Ballard. They are survived by their children, John (Sue) Ketchem of Chicago, Illinois, Laurie (Tom) Gormley of Las Cruces, New Mexico, Mark (Christy) Ketchem of Meriden, daughter-in-law, DoeDee Ketchem of Wichita, Kansas, and 22 grand children and great grandchildren that they loved, adored and had wonderful relationships with. Bob is survived by his cousin, Gerry Van Winkle Morris of Arizona, and Shirley is survived by her sisters, Brenda Dooley and Janice Dumler and brothers, Danny and Jerry Ballard all of California.
Shortly after they met, Bob joined the Air Force and served 20 years, so they were frequently parted. It’s no surprise that their song was “P.S.: I Love You”. They would travel the world together and eventually settle in Meriden. Bob continued to provide for his family and worked for multiple medical diagnostic companies, finally really retiring in the same career as a civil servant at Fort Riley, Kansas. This was fitting considering his loyalty to country and fierce patriotism. Education was important to him and he attended professional and college classes whenever possible. He encouraged everyone in his circle of family and friends to constantly pursue education and advancement opportunities. He was the ultimate handyman and could fix anything, a skill he tried to pass on to his sons and grandson with varying degrees of success. His hobbies were woodworking and flying his Piper Cherokee 180. Friends and family routinely sought his wise council. His sense of humor and warm chuckle drew others in.
Shirley was the glue that kept the family together. She made any house a home, whether it was their first apartment where cardboard boxes were draped in fabric to make tables and kitchen towels were sewn into curtains or their final home in Meriden where she said there was always room for family even if she had to hang them on a hook. Bob learned to accept that making a proper home really did require five million silk flowers, 20 bed pillows per bed and boxes upon boxes of decorations for every holiday. Anyone who knew her, knew holidays meant family and family meant everything to her. If she wasn’t tending her family, she was tending her flowers and feeding her birds. Shirley cared deeply for everyone and she always knew when the mail carrier was sick or the clerk at the grocery store was having car trouble. Everyone she touched benefitted from her beautiful loving spirit.
Joint Services will be held at 2:00 PM, Saturday, June 8th, 2019, at Meriden United Methodist Church. Visitation will 1:00 to 2:00 PM prior to services. Burial, with U.S. Air Force Honors for Bob, will follow at Meriden Cemetery. Rest assured that they will leave this world just as we were accustomed to seeing them. Bob’s tie will coordinate beautifully with Shirley’s outfit. They were quite a pair.
In lieu of flowers, Memorials suggested to Kansas Honor Flights, P.O. Box 2371, Hutchinson, KS 67504 or the Ketchem memorial fund Meriden United Methodist Church, 100 Dawson St., Meriden, KS, 66512, and sent in care of Barnett Family Funeral Home, P.O. Box 602, Oskaloosa, KS, 66066.
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