Joseph Chizek

Joseph Edmund Chizek, Jr., was born Nov. 12, 1935, rural Cuba, to Joseph E. Sr., and Florence (Fulcomer) Chizek.

He died March 17, 2024, at the Republic Co. Hospital in Belleville at the age of 88. He received his education at Harper Country School and Cuba High School. After graduation, he worked for Biba Engineering Company for four years.

He married Deloris Holthus at Martin Lutheran Church in rural Johnson, Neb., on Dec. 30, 1958.

He was drafted in the Army. He was schooled on the H-13 Helicopter as a mechanic. Finding out he could type, he was transferred to the main flight office where he worked until he was honorably discharged.

He was hired as an assistant engineer by the Republic Co. Highway Department. He worked there until 1969, when he applied to work as an isolated serviceman lineman for Western Power. He retired as a foreman in 1998 from West Plains Energy after working for 30 years.

The couple built there home in Cluba where he was the mayor of Cuba three different times. When the Cuba Harvest Festival was founded in 1976, Joe was the first president. He also served 20 years on the USD 455 school board.

He had four children: Tammy (Mike) Wickstrum of Cuba, Kathleen (Brad) Steinle of Talmo, Lisa (Clint) Pierce of Augusta, Kan., and David (Stacey) Chizek of Manhattan; four grandchildren – Kelly Steinle (Joseph Bergkamp) of Wichita, Katie (Tate) Fisher of Kansas City, Missouri, Brian (Becca) Steinle of Douglass, Kansas, and Megan (Trent) Spilker of Harbine, Nebraska; seven great grandchildren, Harlie, Maggie, Sammie, Dade, Avery, Dani, and Riley. Joe is also survived by his two sisters, Marilyn Abel of Cuba, and Cecelia Seachord of Wymore, Neb.

He is preceded in death by his wife of 62 ½ years in 2020, his parents, sister Rosalie Marie, brother-in-laws Robert Abel and Harold Seachord.

Funeral services will be Saturday, March 23, at 11 a.m., at the Cuba Community Center. Burial with U.S. Military Honors will follow at the National Bohemian #13 Cemetery, rural Cuba. Following the cemetery services, family and friends are invited back to the Cuba Community Center for a luncheon and fellowship with the family.

Friends may sign the book on Friday, March 22, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., at Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home in Belleville.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are requested to the Cuba Booster Club or to the family to be designated at a later date, and may be sent to Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home, PO Box 566, Belleville, Kansas, 66935.

Washington County News • Mar 21, 2024

Veteran