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Obituaries

A celebration of life for Wesley L. "Wes" Seyler, 95, Versailles, Mo., will be at 11 a.m. Saturday in the Fellowship Hall of First United Methodist Church in Lawrence. Inurnment will be at a later date in Greenwood Cemetery in Franklin, Neb.Mr. Seyler died Friday, May 2, 2008, at Good Shepherd Care Center in Versailles.He was born Aug. 26, 1912, in Alma, Neb., a son of Lewis Charles and Sara Pearl Walker Seyler. He attended Prairie Dog School in rural Alma and graduated from Alma High School in 1930. He attended Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Neb., and graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln with a Bachelor of Science in agricultural education. He lived in Topeka, Oklahoma City and then in Lawrence from 1963 to 2005, when he moved to Versailles.Mr. Seyler served in the U.S. Air Force from 1941 to 1944. He was a veteran of World War II and achieved the rank of staff sergeant. He worked as a radio and farm broadcaster for WIBW Radio in Topeka. He and his wife later owned and operated Gardenland in Lawrence until they retired.He was a member of First United Methodist Church in Lawrence, He had been active in the Jayhawk Kiwanis in Lawrence and was a past lieutenant governor Division II. He helped found the Kaw Valley Bluebird Association in Lawrence after he retired. Mr. Seyler was inducted into the Nebraska Wesleyan University Sports Hall of Fame. He was the first recipient of the Kansas Soil Conservation District award and also had received the Kiwanian of the Year award.He married Muriel A. Austin on Aug. 15, 1943, at Hyde Park Methodist Church in Chicago. She died March 23, 2006.Mr. Seyler was also preceded in death by a sister, Naomi Harding; and a brother, Ernest.Survivors include a daughter, Mary Jo Jackson, Versailles; two grandsons; and three great-grandchildren.The family suggests memorials to First United Methodist Church in Lawrence or St. Paul Lutheran Church in Stover, Mo. Scrivner-Morrow Funeral Home in Versailles is in charge of arrangements.Online condolences may be sent at <a href="http://www.scrivner-morrow.com">www.scrivner-morrow.com</a>.