Obituary Record

Kelly Philip Ryan
Died on 1/9/1996
Buried in Blair Cemetery

#1 Funeral Is Held For Kelly Ryan; Blair Inventor, Businessman

World-Herald News Service

Blair, Neb. – Funeral services for Kelly Ryan, 76, of Blair, a widely known farm equipment inventor and businessman, were held Friday in Blair.

Ryan died of cancer Tuesday at a Blair nursing home where he had lived since the week after Christmas, said his son, Jim, also of Blair.

Ryan was founder and co-chairman of Kelly Ryan Equipment Co. of Blair, one of several farm-equipment businesses he had owned and operated in the area since the 1950s, said his son, who is president of the company.

Among Ryan’s most notable innovations were a portable farm elevator, mechanized cattle-feeding equipment and an agricultural bagging machine.

“He was granted a patent just last year for a new feature on the bagging machines,” said Wayne Smith of Omaha, co-chairman of the firm.

Kelly Ryan Equipment Co. employs about 60 people, Smith said.

“He was what I call a great hip-pocket engineer”, Smith said. “He could figure out how to build just about anything. He would sketch something out on the floor of the plant, and before you knew it they were making it.

“He had a great mind and had almost total recall. He had a fantastic memory for dates, events, things like that.”

Other survivors include his wife, Mardelle, three daughters, Nancy Frazier of Logan, Utah; Janis Rogge of Sabetha, Kan., and Kathleen Cook of Blair; a sister, Clarice Pence of Blair; 14 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

# 2 - - Published on January 11, 1996, source not identified.

BLAIR BUSINESS COMMUNITY LOSES TWO BUSINESSMEN IN ONE WEEK

The Blair business community has lost two prominent businessmen in less than one week’s time. Mike Christopher, founder of Christopher’s Body Shop and Kelly Ryan, founder of the Kelly Ryan Equipment Company, passed away.

KELLY RYAN, 76

(picture)

Services for Kelly P. Ryan will be Friday, January 12, at 10:30 a.m. at First Lutheran Church in Blair. Burial will be in the Blair Cemetery.

Kelly Ryan was a native Washington Countian who was born in the Rose Hill neighborhood. He showed signs of inventiveness at an early age when he mounted a hay mower to a lumber wagon. Kelly said, “It worked - - but Dad didn’t like it.”

After marrying Mardelle Kuhr, of Blair, Kelly went on to invent many things in his machine shop including an air compressor made out of a street car axle. His Kelly Ryan Equipment Company observed its 50th Anniversary in 1995 with the announcement of another patent for a feed bagging piece of equipment.

The Kelly Ryan Equipment company is best known for their manufacture of farm elevators, manure spreaders, rakes and feeder wagons. The firm has been one of Blair’s largest employers and is still family-owned and operated.

Kelly Ryan was Washington County’s senior industrialist. Ryan also did extensive land development in the Blair area.

A complete obituary for Kelly Ryan appears on page three of this issue.

#3 News Article 11 Jan 1996

Kelly Ryan, 76

(Photo)

Services for Kelly Ryan, 76 who died January 9, 1996 at Good Shepherd Lutheran Home in Blair after a four-year battle with cancer will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, January 12 at First Lutheran Church in Blair. Burial will be in the Blair Cemetery.

A Masonic service will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday at Campbell-Aman Funeral Home.

Kelly Phillip Ryan was born in Blair April 16, 1919 to James and Hannah Marie Jensen Ryan. His childhood and youth were spent near Orum, Nebraska on the family farm.

He left high school to work in Montana and Missouri until his return to Omaha to work at Omaha Steel Works.

He married Georgia Mardelle Kuhr December 28, 1941 in Blair. For a short time they lived in Omaha.

In 1945 they returned to Blair where he founded the Kelly Ryan Equipment Company. He held U.S. patents for many of the pieces of farm equipment he designed, manufactured and distributed. In May of 1995, the company, and his family, celebrated 50 years of being in business in Blair.

Among the many honors received by him during his years as a businessman were the Blair Chamber of Commerce’s Distinguished Service Award, a key to the city of Blair and an Admiralty in the Nebraska Navy. He will be remembered as the developer of the ‘66’ Heights, Evergreen Bluffs and Oak Park Additions to the city of Blair.

He was a strong supporter of Blair’s Little League Baseball program. He was a member of the Washington Lodge No. 21 A.F. & A.M. of Blair, a long-time volunteer fireman, a lifetime member of the Blair fraternal Order of Eagles and a lifetime member of the Blair Jaycees.

He was preceded in death by his parents; an infant sister and brothers, Russel Ryan, Perry Ryan and William D. Ryan.

He is survived by his wife, Mardelle; a son and daughter-in-law, James and Susan; daughters and sons-in-law, Nancy and Gail Frazier of Logan, Iowa; Janis and Leland Rogge of Sabetha, Kansas and Kathleen and Steve Cook of Blair; 14 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a sister, Clarice (Mrs. Kenneth) Pence, Blair and two brothers and sisters-n-law, Robert W. and Lucille Ryan, Blair and Curtis E. and Jean Ryan of Omaha.

#4 Funeral Leaflet

In Loving Memory of Kelly P. Ryan

Born April 16, 1919 Blair, Nebraska ~ Entered Into Rest January 9, 1996 Blair, Nebraska

Services 10:30 AM Friday, January 12, 1996 First Lutheran Church, Blair, Nebraska. Officiating Clergy: Pastor Shirley Schmidt, Rev. Kenneth A. Jensen. Music Provided by Clare Cowing, Susan Rogers. Vocal Selections: “I Was There To Hear Your Borning Cry”, “How Great Thou Art”, “The Lord’s Prayer”

Pallbearers: Dean DeSmet, Dale Ruser, James Scheffler, Gus Schroeder, Emmett Rogert, George Ryan, Wayne Smith, All Employees of Kelly Ryan

Interment: Blair Cemetery, Blair, Nebraska

~~~Obituaries and funeral leaflet courtesy of Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings and leaflets on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska~~~

FindaGrave #25342769

Printed in the Omaha World Herald on 1/11/1996


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