LARAYNE H. “RAY” SAPP, 69

Services for LaRayne H. “Ray” Sapp, 69, who died at his Omaha home December 2, 1995, were Monday, December 4 at First Covenant Church in Omaha. Burial was in Voss Mohr with military graveside services by the Millard American Legion Post No. 374 and Millard Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 8334.

Ray Sapp grew up in rented farm homes in southeast Nebraska as his parents moved from one government job to another during the Depression.

He sold insurance in Lincoln. In 1963 he and his brothers bought a car dealership in Blair. Ray and his brother, Dean managed that dealership. Sapp Brothers became a business name in 1969 when he and his three brothers pooled their funds to buy the Ashland ford distributorship.

He and his three brothers then built their first truck stop in 1971 at the northwest corner of I-80 and Highway 50. The familiar coffee-pot sign is an old water tower taken from the South Omaha Amour plant. It had been sold for salvage and by placing it on the site to reduce the fire danger, they found they could save money on property insurance.

The success of the first truck stop led to opening a second one at I-80 and I-29 in Council Bluffs. The string of 12 Sapp Brothers truck stops now extends from Illinois to Utah. A 13th truck stop will open next year in Pennsylvania.

He is surveyed (survived) by his wife, Lenora, Omaha; sons and daughters-in-law, Jack and Karen, Cheyenne, Wyoming; Jim and Theresa, Carmel, Indiana; a daughter and son-in-law, Judy and Bob Moyer, Stromsburg; nine grandchildren; three brothers, Dean and Lee, both of Omaha and Bill of Ashland; three sisters, Irene Brubaker of Lincoln and Veloura Barnard and Zelma Drake, both of Beatrice and many nieces and nephews.

Crowby Burket Swanson-Golden Colonial Chapel was in charge of arrangements.

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

FindaGrave Memorial # 41796093