(Veteran)

Monday, February 21, 2005

Washington County native Harold A. Kay, 96, of Gretna, died Sunday, Feb. 20, 2005, in Gretna.

Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, at Sievers-Sprick Funeral Home in Fort Calhoun. Interment will be in the Fort Calhoun Cemetery.

Visitation will be from 3 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Sievers-Sprick Funeral Home, with family receiving friends from 6 to 8 p.m.

Harold A. Kay was born April 29, 1908, in Washington County to Emil and Emma Kay. The family lived on a farm near Fort Calhoun. When Harold was 12 or 13, they moved to Gretna area, where he graduated from the 8th grade.

As a teenager, he worked for just a dollar a day and room and board for neighbors. He later moved back home to help his father with the farm, and to help take care of his grandmother.

On Sept. 16, 1942, he was inducted into the service at Fort Crook (now Offutt Air Base). At the age of 34, in the military service, he was a rifle specialist and was stationed in Alaska, where he helped build the Alaskan highway. After his discharge from the military, he returned home to the family farm. He purchased some earth-moving equipment and worked for the Sarpy County Soil Conservation Department, building waterways and dams for area farmers. During this time, he also worked with his brothers-in-law, Dick Thornburg and Norm Merrill, building the fish hatchery ponds at what is now the Ak-Sar-Ben Aquarium.

Mr. Kay later moved to Ashland with his aging parents, and worked for the Apollo Fireworks Factory in Mead. There, he helped manufacture fireworks and set up fireworks displays. His last show was at Rosenblatt Stadium. He also loaded gun shells for hunters, and for the Ashland Police Department, making many friends and clients.

His family remembers him as a “true outdoorsman” who loved to hunt and fish, taking extended hunting and fishing trips, which eventually led him to his love of taxidermy and tanning hides. Many of his friends included young men and women whom he taught the safe and proper use of firearms, as well as camping and fishing skills.

Although he had no children of his own, he spent a great deal of time with his nieces and nephews, putting on his own fireworks displays and picking out the best watermelons for 4th of July picnics. At Christmas, he loved assembling toy racetracks and train sets so he could play with his nephews. He also enjoyed watching solar eclipses and the aurora borealis with his family.

His family notes that, “Harold’s greatest gift was sharing the joy of his knowledge of life.”

He is survived by a sister, Marjorie Merrill of Gretna, and nieces, nephews, and cousins.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Viola Thornburg.

Memorials are suggested to the Fort Calhoun Cemetery for a flagpole in his memory.

Another obituary from the Pilot Tribune 22 Feb 2005 is exactly the same.

Omaha World Herald 21 Feb 2005

KAY – Harold A., age 96, of Gretna. Preceded in death by parents, Emil and Emma Kay, and sister Viola Thornburg. Survived by sister, Marjorie Merrill, Gretna; many nieces and nephews. VISITATION Tues. 3-8 pm, with family receiving friends 6-8 pm. FUNERAL SERVICES Wed 2 pm, both at Funeral Home. Interment Ft. Calhoun Cemetery.

SIEVERS-SPRICK Ft. Calhoun, Ne 402-468-5678

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~