Memorial services for 100-year old Stanley Stumf of Chadron, NE, are Sat, March 26, 2022 at 10:30 at the Berean Church in Chadron.
Stanley Stumf was born November 11, 1921, in Hemingford, NE, and passed away on March 12, 2022, at Ponderosa Villa in Crawford, NE.
Online condolences may be left at www.chamberlainchapel.com
Chamberlain Chapel of Chadron is in charge of arrangements for Stanley Stumf.
STANLEY’S OBITUARY IN HIS OWN WORDS
To my dear family and friends: As you remember, I was a man of few words except when it came to politics. My kids wanted to tell you to stay away from politics, but at least you knew where I stood. Just want you to know that I don’t care the least about politics anymore. So here it is: “I was born, I lived, and I died.”
I was born on November 11th, 1921, in Box Butte County on a farm west of Hemingford to Josef and Anna Stumf. My parents were immigrants from Czechoslovakia, and I didn’t know a word of English until I started school. I was the oldest of four children, two sisters Beatrice and Sidonia and one brother Frank. We had moved to a farm 18 miles north of Hemingford, and walked to school which was three quarters of a mile south.
I attended High School in Chadron. I wasn’t interested in sports. “After watching them pile up on ‘em in football, I decided ‘This isn’t for me.’” Believe it or not, I was on my way to a High School Play practice (sang and danced the Mexican Hat Dance) when I heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.
Following high school graduation in 1942, I was drafted and was granted duty in the Army Air Corp. My enjoyment of airplanes influenced my decision. I was trained as an instrument specialist.
My 1st tour was in Hawaii and on to Christmas Island; and then a 2nd tour to Guam and to Okinawa and on to Japan. I was there and stood on the dock when Japan signed the surrender on September 1945.
Mount Fuji’s snow-capped peak was “quite a sight”, but seeing American prisoners of war that had been held in China, waiting to be transported back home, was not a pretty site.
Back home, I helped my parents on their farm and also met my future wife Lois Spalding. We married on October 19th, 1948, and moved into a little farm house on Bordeaux Creek and later into my in-laws home where I continued ranching and farming until I was 96.
I was a WWII Veteran, a rancher/farmer/mechanic/etc., and the father of five children (Mary Lea, Vicki Ann, Sterling Scott, Henry Joseph, Gamon Lee). I lost my wife and daughter Vicki in 2004. And yes, I died on March 12th, 2022.
I have left behind four children, nine grand children and seven great grand children; one sister Bea and two nieces Cindy Lou and Debby.
Life is about letting go. There is no flawless job, no faultless family, no set of circumstances free of troubles. God has chosen to allow events to unfold as they are, and uses difficulties to bring us to the end of ourselves.
When everything is taken away from you, what do you have left? What do you hold on to? There is only Jesus.
I was a stubborn, cynical, critical, judgmental man; but Jesus changes hearts and transforms lives. I was not the same man when I left this world. He did a mighty work in my heart at the ending of my life.
Come to Him just as you are. If you are running and hiding from your Creator, then return. Jesus is waiting for you! Turn to Him! Hold fast to Him.
From Stanley Stumf
What a way to go out, I loved this and it was him speaking you could tell. I remember him but as a grouchy old man and this seems like a different person, What Jesus can do for us is amazing, Rest in Peace Mr. Stumf and Thank you for your service. God bless you>