Jerry Vrbas

Jerry Lee Vrbas was born Sept. 30, 1946 in Colby, Kan., the sixth of nine children of James and Genevieve Heble Vrbas. He grew up in Atwood, Kan., where he attended Sacred Heart grade school through the eighth grade and graduated from Atwood High School in 1964.

Jerry enlisted in the U.S. Navy in March of 1965, hoping to travel the world by sea. He excelled at boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training Center in San Diego, Calif., and was named his company's outstanding recruit.

Following about eight months of technical training at Naval Air Station Memphis in Millington, Tenn., Jerry was assigned as an aviation mechanic to the newly commissioned Naval Air Station at Lemoore, Calif. Ironically, his remarkable natural aptitude for mechanics was to ground him stateside. He was to complete his four years of military service at NAS Lemoore without setting foot on a ship.

As the war heated up in Southeast Asia, Jerry had opportunity to work on A4 Skyhawks, A1 Sky Raiders, Beechcraft C-45 radial engine planes,
C-117 (DC3), F-8, F-4 Phantom and "basically whatever came in."

Also, having grown up hunting and shooting on the High Plains of Kansas, Jerry was an excellent marksman and earned awards as a member of a naval pistol team while serving at Lemoore.

Although the Vietnam era was a period of history in which military veterans received little appreciation, he valued his years in the Navy and was proud of having served his country.

Jerry had begun learning the trade of bricklaying from his older brothers, Gene and Bob, when he was in high school. His first major job had been carrying hod for his brothers and other brick masons building the new sanctuary of the Atwood United Methodist Church. After his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1969, he worked for masonry contractors in Denver, Colo., and then did private contracting in Colorado until his return to Rawlins County, Kan., in 1975.

Over the decades, Jerry was a part of building everything from schools and churches to civic buildings and businesses, as well as completing countless smaller jobs, throughout Northwest Kansas, Southwest Nebraska and Eastern Colorado. His many projects in his hometown of Atwood as well as around the region serve as monuments to his skill and integrity as a master mason.

Soon after his honorable discharge from the Navy in March of 1969, Jerry met Washington, D.C. native Kathy Davis in Denver. Jerry and Kathy were married Dec. 26, 1975 in Oxon Hill, Md., and established their home on a small farm place east of Atwood.

The couple welcomed four children: Jacob in 1980, Benjamin in 1983, Margaret in 1984 and Andrew in 1990. They raised their children in their beloved little prairie house until moving to Atwood in spring of 2000.

Jerry was a hardworking man who exhibited discipline and excellence in his work, but he also loved to laugh and shared his infectious sense of humor on the job. Co-workers remarked their days were always more enjoyable when Jerry was on the construction site.

During their youth, each of his children had the opportunity to tend Jerry on his brick, block or stone jobs and to learn firsthand the tremendous physical effort their father put forth in order to support his family. Jerry taught his children skills and a work ethic that would serve them well in their own life pursuits.

Though a serious craftsman, Jerry was a simple and resourceful man who lived humbly. Being a family man was his priority. He played with his kids, read to them and took his family fishing, hiking and camping. He provided his kids with "wheels" from an early age and taught them to shift gears before their feet could properly reach the pedals.

Jerry had a lifelong love of music, but his children's happy chatter, mixed with songs of meadowlarks and pheasants, was the music he loved most.

In 1991, Jerry suffered a life-changing accident in which he fell from a roof and shattered his heel. He underwent a lengthy repair surgery in Denver and spent a year in recovery. Despite pronouncements that he would no longer be able to lay brick, he ignored pain from the injury and continued to work as a mason for the next 25 years.

Jerry was a voracious reader and a man of many interests. A fisherman and gardener, he was also interested in history and antiquities and enjoyed hunting for arrowheads and Native American artifacts. He had learned to sew in the Navy and did mending and other sewing projects for his family.

Jerry also liked to cook and bake and shared his homemade bread with friends and neighbors. His bierrocks and peanut brittle were family holiday traditions.

He was a nature lover who diligently stocked his bird feeders and knew the names and habits of his feathered visitors. He was also fond of domestic animals and in 2011, he adopted a rescue pup named Paco as his sidekick. The two became inseparable.

Above all, Jerry was immensely proud of his children and any conversation with him would invariably turn to them.

An intensely private man, Jerry preferred that it be kept quiet when his health began to fail. He was diagnosed with Stage 4 liver cancer in January of 2017. Jerry spent his final months enjoying time with his wife, children and "the lil' darlins," as he called his seven grandchildren. He died at his home on March 26, 2017 with his wife at his side.

Jerry left this earth a grateful man, thanking God for what he called his wealth: his family.

Preceding Jerry in death were his parents and brothers Gene, Bob and Jimmy.

Survivors include his wife, Kathy; their children and families, Jacob and wife, Michelle, and children, Annabelle and James, of Whidbey Island, Wash., Ben and wife, Sara, and children, Hawke and Rosie, of Casper, Wyo., Margaret and husband, Bryan Miller, and children, Sawyer, Clara and Madsen, of Denver, and Andrew and wife, Abi, of Hastings, Neb.; brothers, Tom and wife, Janet, of Atwood, Michael and wife, Polly, of Loveland, Colo., and Terry and wife, Donna, of Mankato, Kan.; sisters, Carolyn and husband, Gordon Rachac, of El Cajon, Calif., and Cathy Lippold of Atwood; nieces and nephews; and many other relatives.

Memorial services were held March 31 at Courts of Praise in Atwood with Pastor Kent Morgan officiating. Music included "Be Thou My Vision" and "Come to Jesus." The family chose cremation, with a private burial to take place at a later date.

Memorials were named to Hospice Services of Northwest Kansas or to the Jerry Vrbas Memorial, which will be designated by his family.

Card of Thanks

Friends and relatives, we are humbled by your tremendous outpouring of support. Your kindness truly comforts us as we grieve, having lost this unique and beloved man. We are grateful for your prayer, food, flowers, groceries, visits, calls, memorial gifts, wonderful cards, messages and many helpful acts and we ask that God return to you tenfold the blessings you have given us.

- The Jerry Vrbas Family