Joe E. Chizek

Joseph Edmund Chizek, Jr., was born on 12 November 1935, rural Cuba, Kansas, to Joseph E. Sr., and Florence (Fulcomer) Chizek. He received his education at Harper Country School and Cuba High School. After graduation, he worked for Biba Engineering Company for four years. While working near Tecumseh, Nebraska, he met Deloris Holthus, his special gal. They were married at the Martin Lutheran Church in rural Johnson, Nebraska, on 30 December 1958. Joe got drafted in the Army, and after qualifying for Airborne school, Dee joined him at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. 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. While in Kentucky, Dee and Joe toured the area, meeting many great people including wheat farmers. 

In 1961, they moved their mobile home to Cuba, deciding what to do. His previous road building experience led to his getting hired as 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. 

Joe and Dee alone built their home in 1963, and they worked hard to get into their home as the trailer home buyers wanted it right away. Joe was the Mayor of Cuba three different times. When the Cuba Harvest Festival was founded in 1976, Joe was the first president with three super ladies as first officers. He was Mayor when the sewer came to town, and he helped finish putting the water lines in. Joe also served 20 years on the USD 455 school board. Joe and Dee loved listening and dancing to polka music, and traveled to many places to see and hear their favorite bands.

Joe and Dee were blessed with four beautiful children – Tammy (Mike) Wickstrum of Cuba, Kathleen (Brad) Steinle of Talmo, Lisa (Clint) Pierce of Augusta, Kan., and David (Stacey) Chizek of Manhattan; four wonderful 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, Nebraska, nieces, nephews, and a community of friends. 

Joe passed away on 17 March 2024, at the Republic Co. Hospital in Belleville, at the age of 88. He is preceded in death by his beloved partner and wife of 62 ½ years Dee in 2020, his parents, sister Rosalie Marie, brother-in-laws Robert Abel and Harold Seachord. 

Joe’s life will be celebrated on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at 11:00 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 Joe’s book on Friday, March 22, from 9am – 4pm, 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.

Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home is assisting the Chizek family with these arrangements, www.tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com