BLOOMINGTON — Charles Edward Way Jr., 84, of Bloomington died Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, at his home.
A celebration of life service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Hutchins Funeral Home in Franklin with the Rev. Bill Stearns officiating. Burial with military honors by the Nebraska Army National Guard Honor Guard, American Legion Post 145 of Bloomington and American Legion Post 364 of Naponee will be at Naponee Cemetery. Hutchins Funeral Home
is in charge of the arrangements.
He was born Jan. 8, 1932, at his parents’ home near Covington, Okla. He was the younger of two children born to Charles Edward and Ethel Mary (Wells) Way.
He attended Elmdale Country School, Covington High School and the Bible Baptist Church of Covington. In 1952, he was working as a truck driver for Benny Holding Custom Harvesting in Covington when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Camp Roberts, Calif., for basic training.
After basic, he sailed to Japan for four weeks of telephone communications training at Eta Jama Special School, 8098th Army Unit, and from there to Korea. He served with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 38th Infantry, 2nd Division as a field wireman from 1952-1954 and was on the battlefield the day the cease-fire was declared.
Charles received the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Combat Infantry Badge and Republic of Korea Presidential Citation. He was a member of American Legion Post 145 in Bloomington.
Charles inherited his stocky build from his great-grandfather Sylvester “Sidney” Way and his brothers Cyrus “Munson” Way, Alexander “Wesley” Way and Philo Philander Way. They settled homesteads near Wayne in Republic County, Kan., after the Civil War. Sylvester “Sidney” Way was the first burial in Union Cemetery on the Cyrus “Munson” Way homestead where his brothers and their descendants are also buried.
Their ancestors were George Way 1614-1650 and Elizabeth (Smith) Way 1630-1713, emigrants from England to Saybrook, Conn. They lived in Providence, R.I., and New London, Conn.
Charles inherited curly hair from his great-grandparents John and Mary (Buryanek) Richecky, emigrants from Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. They settled in 1880 near Cuba in Republic County, Kan., and are buried in the Tabor Cemetery.
Charles worked as a roughneck in the derricks of oil well drilling rigs in Oklahoma, southern Kansas, Arkansas, and in the Nebraska Panhandle near Scottsbluff. He was a chauffeur for the U.S. Air Force officers at Vance Air Force Base at Enid, Okla., and with the Garfield County (Okla.) Road Department. He operated engines to generate electricity for the city of Franklin until 1977, when a heart attack forced his retirement.
In 1957, he bought a house in the country to be moved to the town of Covington. The plan was for his fiancée’s grandfather, Charles Meise, a Covington house mover, to move the house, but when the time came he was in the hospital and insisted Charles use his equipment and move his own house, which he did.
June 2, 1958, he married Mamie Rebecca Meise, the daughter of Forrest and Anna (Chapman) Meise, at the home of the Rev. W.B. and Jessie Gilliland in Covington.
They became parents of two sons: Benny Mack Way and Randy Edward Way. They moved to Naponee in 1968, to Covington in 1979 and to Bloomington in 2012.
Charles was a NASCAR fan. He restored two Model T coupes and a Model A sedan. He enjoyed camping, fishing and making latch hook rugs.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Sonny Way; son, Randy Way; and brother-in-law, Billy Meise.
Survivors are his widow, Mamie, of 58 years; son, Benny Way of Orleans; one granddaughter, Rebecca Lynn and husband Brody Schmidt; two great-granddaughters, Lyla Sue and Kelsey Lynn Schmidt of Nash, Okla.; brother- and sister-in-law, Ramon and Thelma Garcia and Charles and Lynda Zade of Bloomington; two nephews, Harvey Melton of Holdrege and Dustin Zade of Franklin; three nieces, Anna Hunter of Republican City, Sandra Horne of Aurora, Colo., and Shannon Zade of Hastings.
BLOOMINGTON — Charles Edward Way Jr., 84, of Bloomington died Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, at his home.
A celebration of life service will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at Hutchins Funeral Home in Franklin with the Rev. Bill Stearns officiating. Burial with military honors by the Nebraska Army National Guard Honor Guard, American Legion Post 145 of Bloomington and American Legion Post 364 of Naponee will be at Naponee Cemetery. Hutchins Funeral Home
is in charge of the arrangements.
He was born Jan. 8, 1932, at his parents’ home near Covington, Okla. He was the younger of two children born to Charles Edward and Ethel Mary (Wells) Way.
He attended Elmdale Country School, Covington High School and the Bible Baptist Church of Covington. In 1952, he was working as a truck driver for Benny Holding Custom Harvesting in Covington when he was drafted into the U.S. Army and sent to Camp Roberts, Calif., for basic training.
After basic, he sailed to Japan for four weeks of telephone communications training at Eta Jama Special School, 8098th Army Unit, and from there to Korea. He served with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 38th Infantry, 2nd Division as a field wireman from 1952-1954 and was on the battlefield the day the cease-fire was declared.
Charles received the Korean Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Combat Infantry Badge and Republic of Korea Presidential Citation. He was a member of American Legion Post 145 in Bloomington.
Charles inherited his stocky build from his great-grandfather Sylvester “Sidney” Way and his brothers Cyrus “Munson” Way, Alexander “Wesley” Way and Philo Philander Way. They settled homesteads near Wayne in Republic County, Kan., after the Civil War. Sylvester “Sidney” Way was the first burial in Union Cemetery on the Cyrus “Munson” Way homestead where his brothers and their descendants are also buried.
Their ancestors were George Way 1614-1650 and Elizabeth (Smith) Way 1630-1713, emigrants from England to Saybrook, Conn. They lived in Providence, R.I., and New London, Conn.
Charles inherited curly hair from his great-grandparents John and Mary (Buryanek) Richecky, emigrants from Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. They settled in 1880 near Cuba in Republic County, Kan., and are buried in the Tabor Cemetery.
Charles worked as a roughneck in the derricks of oil well drilling rigs in Oklahoma, southern Kansas, Arkansas, and in the Nebraska Panhandle near Scottsbluff. He was a chauffeur for the U.S. Air Force officers at Vance Air Force Base at Enid, Okla., and with the Garfield County (Okla.) Road Department. He operated engines to generate electricity for the city of Franklin until 1977, when a heart attack forced his retirement.
In 1957, he bought a house in the country to be moved to the town of Covington. The plan was for his fiancée’s grandfather, Charles Meise, a Covington house mover, to move the house, but when the time came he was in the hospital and insisted Charles use his equipment and move his own house, which he did.
June 2, 1958, he married Mamie Rebecca Meise, the daughter of Forrest and Anna (Chapman) Meise, at the home of the Rev. W.B. and Jessie Gilliland in Covington.
They became parents of two sons: Benny Mack Way and Randy Edward Way. They moved to Naponee in 1968, to Covington in 1979 and to Bloomington in 2012.
Charles was a NASCAR fan. He restored two Model T coupes and a Model A sedan. He enjoyed camping, fishing and making latch hook rugs.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Sonny Way; son, Randy Way; and brother-in-law, Billy Meise.
Survivors are his widow, Mamie, of 58 years; son, Benny Way of Orleans; one granddaughter, Rebecca Lynn and husband Brody Schmidt; two great-granddaughters, Lyla Sue and Kelsey Lynn Schmidt of Nash, Okla.; brother- and sister-in-law, Ramon and Thelma Garcia and Charles and Lynda Zade of Bloomington; two nephews, Harvey Melton of Holdrege and Dustin Zade of Franklin; three nieces, Anna Hunter of Republican City, Sandra Horne of Aurora, Colo., and Shannon Zade of Hastings.
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