Edward John Oborny Jr., was born May 30, 1940, to Edward J. Oborny Sr., and Mary Ann (Kopriva) Oborny. He departed this life on April 3, 2020, at the age of 79 while a resident at Rush County Memorial Hospital Intermediate Swing Bed in La Crosse, Kansas.
He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Margaret J. (Bieber) Oborny of the home; children, Greg Oborny, Prairie Village, Kansas, Jenifer Oborny, Great Bend, Kansas, and Tim Oborny (Patricia), Bison, Kansas; grandchildren, Audra, Wyatt, Cordell, and Isaac, all of Bison; and one stepsister, Margaret Ann Wetter (Eugene), Norton, Kansas.
Ed was preceded in death by his parents; his step mother, Blanche Oborny; and one sister, Marcella (Oborny) Stos, Otis, Kansas.
Ed was an accomplished cornet player with skills he learned while being the youngest member of the Oborny family band in the 1950s. This served him through his high school days at Bison and in the KSU Marching College Band. He graduated from Kansas State University in 1962 with degrees in agronomy and animal husbandry. Ed returned to the family farm and married his high school sweetheart on October 12, 1963. There he settled into the community by serving on the Holy Trinity Parish Council and singing in the Holy Trinity Choir. He also served on Extension and Irrigation boards, both state and local, as well as the Rush County Hospital board, Kansas Crop Improvement Association and Kansas Seed Industry boards. He was most proud of earning the Premier Seed Grower Award in 1975. Growing and conditioning certified seed was a passion of his. It is hard to imagine the number of wheat acres that have been planted with seed grown and conditioned under his supervision.
Ed never forgot his humble roots and remained devoted to this faith, family and farm. He was proud of his Czech heritage, and to his last days could still mumble Czech phrases. Ed provided an example and blueprint to his kids and grandkids on how to live a productive life.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Timken, Kansas. Interment will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, Timken. Because of the current challenges the world is facing at the present time, the funeral service and interment will be private, immediate family only. There will be no visitation.
Memorials are suggested to Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Timken.
Condolences or remembrances may be left for the family at www.janousekfuneralhome.com.
Arrangements were by Janousek Funeral Home, 719 Pine Street, P.O. Box 550, La Crosse, Kansas 67548, 785/222-2517.
Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, April 5, 2020
