Joe Chalker

August 25, 2011

Joe R. Chalker,  77, of Moran died Tuesday, Aug. 23, 2011, at his home.
He was born Jan. 18, 1934, in Parsons, to Joseph Daniel and Ruby Ingram (Hanna) Chalker. After graduation from Parsons High School he attended Parsons Junior College, Iola Junior College and graduated from Emporia State Teachers College. He received his master’s degree and did post graduate work at Wichita State University. He began his teaching career in Westphalia and went on to teach at Zillah School, Humboldt, and Oatville Elementary, Haysville. He later served as principal at Campus High School, Haysville, Griffith Elementary, Wichita, LaCygne Elementary, LaCygne, and Crest High School in Colony. During this time, he taught adjunct classes for Fort Scott Community College and Butler County Community College, El Dorado. Joe was the first director of the ANW Special Education Cooperative, Iola, ending his career as superintendent of schools at Marmaton Valley, Moran. After his retirement, he taught adjunct classes for Allen County Community College, Iola.
Joe was an elder and Sunday school teacher at Moran Christian Church for many years. As a young man, he was active in sports and set a scoring record in Kansas collegiate basketball that was unbroken for several decades. He liked to travel and recently returned from a cruise to the Bahamas. One of his great joys in his later years was dancing, and he attended many senior dances with his good friend Norma Boss.    
His family was of great importance to him and he was very proud of his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
He is survived by his son, Steve and his wife, Donna, Dallas, Texas; four daughters, Cynthia Jo Chalker, Iola, Shirley Wells and her husband, Michael, Rose Hill, Barbara Anderson and her husband, Stephen, Iola, and Linda Chalker Kilgore, Ozawkie; a sister, Marie McBride, Garnett; a brother, Wayne and his wife, Roseann, Wasilla, Alaska; four sisters-in-law, Shirley Chalker, Parsons, Marilyn May and her husband, Bill, Cleveland, Okla., Nancy Chandler and her husband, Wayne, Moran, and Ruth Spangler and her husband, David, Moran; seven grandchildren, Benjamin Bockover and his wife, Leah, Cari Jo Bockover, Rachel Bockover, Elexia Kilgore, Ted Kilgore, Jill Kilgore, and Nate Wells; and three great-grandchildren, Camri Bockover, Delaney Bockover and Ava Doyle-Anderson. 
He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Chalker, on June 11, 2007; a sister, Jeanne Griffin; a brother, Hugh, and a  sister-in-law, Luella Cochran.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Moran Christian Church, with burial to follow in the Moran Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday  at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel in Moran. 
Memorial contributions to the Joe Chalker Memorial Fund to be used to fund education scholarships at Allen County Community College, Iola, may be left at the funeral home. Condolences to the family may be left at  www.feuerbornfuneral.com.