Neil Gordon Broky

Neil Gordon Broky, 70, of Lawrence, went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, February 1, 2011. He passed away at his home after giving non-smokers lung cancer a good fight.
Neil was born September 18, 1940 to Rudolph and Helen (Heina) Broky in Louisville, KY. Following the end of the Second World War his parents returned to Blue Rapids, KS, to make their home and run the family hardware business. Neil attended the Blue Rapids schools graduating with the high school class of 1958. He attended Sterling College in Sterling, Kansas and graduated with a degree in fine arts in 1962. There he met the love of his life. He married Mary Jeanette Eastwood on September 28, 1963 at Mission Creek Church in Pawnee County, Nebraska. She survives of the home. Of this union were blessed four children, Jonathan (Kum-Cha) Broky, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, Carole Lynne Lovin (Todd) of St. George, KS, Elizabeth Williams(Sam) of Olsburg, KS, and Benjamin (Michelle) Broky, of Perry, KS. He is also survived by two granddaughters, Tate Lovin and Anna Williams, three grandsons, Joshua Broky, Joseph Broky, and Jared Lovin.
Neil began working at the Georgia Pacific gypsum plant in Blue Rapids in 1962. In 1966 he moved his family to Lawrence, KS and began work as a design draftsman for Hercules Inc. at the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in DeSoto, KS. He also served in the U.S. Army Reserve. Upon retirement from Hercules in 1996 Neil spent his remaining 15 years enjoying the company of historians around the nation. Neil was a self-taught and respected military historian in the area of the U.S.-Indian War period but more than anything Neil was a patriot of the United States. He loved our country and had a great faith in the Lord during his lifetime. Neil passed his love of the Lord, his country and history on to his family. Neil was a member of the Little Big Horn Associates, the Santa Fe Trails Association, the NRA, the Company of Military Historians, the Lawrence Free Methodist Church.
He was preceded in death by his parents. He is also survived by two brothers, Wayne S. Broky (Lynda) of Phoenix, Arizona, and Kenneth Broky (Mary), St. Louis, Missouri.
Funeral services for Mr. Broky, will be held 10 a.m. Saturday, February 5, 2011 at Lawrence Free Methodist Church. Later services will be at 4 p.m. at the Terry-Christie Funeral Home in Blue Rapids, KS, and then burial will be at the Prospect Hill Cemetery, north of Blue Rapids. He will lie in state from 2-4 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home in Blue Rapids.
Memorials may be made to the Oncology Center at Lawrence Memorial Hospital or the Lawrence Free Methodist Church and sent in care of the Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence.
The family will greet friends from 5-7 p.m. Friday at the mortuary in Lawrence.
Online condolences may be sent to www.warrenmcelwain.com.