Wayne L. Luedke, 90, Colony, died Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015, at his home.
Wayne was born Jan. 27, 1924, in Tribune, the son of Charles and Estella (Niswonger) Luedke and grew up in Missouri.
He served in the U.S. Army during World War II from April 1943 until June 1946. Wayne was in the 549th anti-aircraft automatic weapons battalion in the 87th Division of the 3rd Army Command under Gen. George Patton. He fought in the Battle of Central Europe, Battle of the Rhineland and the Battle of the Bulge.
On Sept. 5, 1948, he married Twila Kelley and they made their home in Colony since 1957. He worked as Luedke Construction doing contract work for almost 50 years along with auctioneering and selling real estate. He was a member of the Iola American Legion, Colony United Methodist Church, and a former member of the Colony Lions Club.
His wife of 67 years, Twila, survives, as do a son, Douglas, Anthony; a daughter, Marcia Harrington and husband Jeff, Bonner Springs; four brothers, Kenneth, Atchison, Morris and wife Allene, Colony, Stanley, Colony, and Norman, Atwood; a sister, Doris Finley, Atwood; seven grandchildren, Jacob Luedke, Jason Luedke and wife Jaime, Linda Kasselman and husband Karl, Lisa Beers and husband Jason, Amy Thomas and husband Dustin, Michael Ashford and wife Kimberly and Beth Grimm; and 14 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by three brothers, Robert, Leslie and Kieth, and a sister, Clara Paul.
Funeral services will be at 3 p.m. Friday at Waugh-Yokum & Friskel Memorial Chapel in Iola. The family will receive friends for an hour prior to the service. Burial will be in the Colony Cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Colony First Responders or the Colony Lions Club.
To sign the guestbook online or to leave a condolence go to www.iolafuneral.com.
Wayne Luedke
