Lon E. Sowers

Colby — A celebration of life service for Lon E. Sowers, 86, Gem, will be at 2 p.m. today at the United Methodist Church in Colby. Private inurnment will be at a later date.
Mr. Sowers died Monday, Nov. 16, 2009, at the Via Christi St. Francis Medical Center in Wichita, from injuries incurred in an accident on Nov. 12 while driving his ox team.
He was born July 29, 1923, at his parents’ farmstead in Thomas County, the son of James Orval and Ruby Ida Nahrung Sowers. He attended country schools, then attended and graduated from Colby High School in 1941.
Mr. Sowers lived in Thomas County his entire life. He farmed there for 55 years, and also maintained a farm near Broadview, Mont., since the early 1960s. Mr. Sowers enjoyed gardening, sharing from his pumpkin patches, and tending his animals. He raised Scottish Highlander oxen. Mr. Sowers joined the Great American Cattle Drive at North Platte, Neb., on his 72nd birthday. He raised, trained and drove several of his oxen teams in many parades in the Midwest, including the Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyo.
He married Mary Marie Saddler on June 20, 1943, in Gem. She died Dec. 26, 1992.
He also was preceded in death by his parents; his mother-in-law, Leota Saddler; two sisters, Grace Bastin and Edith Sowers; two brothers, Wayne and Byron; an infant son; two infant grandchildren; several brothers- and sisters-in-law; and several nieces and nephews.
Survivors include four daughters, Pat Ziegelmeier and husband Carl, Gem, Kathy Jamison and husband Ed, Quinter, Lynn Skinner and husband Jim, Perry, and Becky Twitchell and husband Bill, Larned; a son, Rue and wife Marilyn, Goodland; 15 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; five brothers, Lewis, Bird City, Dwight, Colby, Frank, Benkelman, Neb., Ralph, Fort Bragg, Calif., and Robert, Gallup, N.M.; a sister-in-law, Erla Merideth, Round Rock, Texas; and a brother-in-law, Donnie Saddler, Colby.
The family suggests memorials to the Thomas County Historical Society, 1905 S. Franklin, Colby, KS 67701 or sent in care of the Harrison Chapel, 190 S. Franklin, Colby, KS 67701.