Joe Minor

Joe R. Minor died Wednesday, May 13, at his home in Olpe, Kansas, in the loving company of his wife and children, following a prolonged illness. He was 93.

Joe was born July 10, 1926, in Miami, Oklahoma, son of Nelson and Minnie Mae Minor. The family moved to Coffeyville and Winfield, Kansas, where Nelson ran commercial icehouses.

Joe graduated from Hutchinson High School in 1944. After attending Hutchinson Junior College for a short period, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He served on ships in both World War II and the Korean War as an electrician’s mate and was sometimes a vessel’s only electrician.

While attending Navy electrical school he met his wife Ramona at a base north of Chicago. They were married Aug. 19, 1953, in Ramona’s hometown of Balfour, North Dakota.

After his honorable discharge, Joe plied his trade for many years at industrial sites as a union electrician for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, living and raising a family in the Hutchison area. During this period, he spent some time building intercontinental ballistic missile siloes in the Midwest.

In 1965, he went to work at the Dolly Madison Bakery construction site in Emporia, Kansas. When it opened, he stayed on as an assistant foreman in the maintenance department, was later promoted to the head of the department and spent the greater portion of his 20-year career there as the Plant Engineer. For many years, it was the largest pastry bakery west of the Mississippi River.

Joe is a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Emporia. Earlier, he was a lay leader and member of the Olpe United Methodist Church.

He was active in the American Legion all his adult life, and was two-time commander of the Emporia post. He was part of many color guards presenting military honors at graveside services in the Emporia area. He belonged to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He was a third degree Freemason and was active in the Emporia lodge. He was also active in the Order of the Eastern Star with his wife.

He was an avid photographer all his life. He loved to travel. He was a champion of the family vacation. In his retirement years, he travel extensively with his wife, pulling their RV to 49 states and Canada, connecting with family members along the way.

He was an avid reader and proponent of lifelong learning. He completed Dale Carnegie leadership and American Institute of Baking courses, for example. He always had a book in his lap.

He was a product of the Great Depression. He would rather fix something than replace it and was very inventive in finding mechanical solutions to everyday problems as well as industrial ones.

He was a dedicated husband, father and family man. He was married to his only wife for 66 years.

He is survived by his wife Ramona Minor; his son Les Minor and his wife Patsy, from Texarkana, Texas; his daughters Lori Minor and Vicki Minor, both from Wichita, Kansas; his sister Marian Cromley from Falls Church, Virginia; 6 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren, and an abundance of nieces and nephews and their children.

No memorial services have been planned in consideration of personal safety during this ongoing pandemic.

Arrangements were made through Roberts-Blue-Barnett. Joe requested his body be cremated and be placed with his wife’s body upon her death.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to All Veterans Memorial, P.O. Box 1632, Emporia, KS 66801, or Southern Lyon County Veterans Memorial c/o Olpe State Bank, 202 W. Westphalia St. Olpe, KS 66865