DUENSING, Fred William "Bill" Sr. - b. April 25, 1931- d. March 9, 2012

[ddurbin]

 Fred William Sr. "Bill" Duensing, 80 , formerly of Winfield and Wichita, Kansas, died March 9, 2012 at the Lifecare of Andover Center.  Bill was born April 25, 1931 in Cedar Vale, Kansas to the late Fred Henry and Gladys May (Anderson) Duensing.

Bill was the oldest of five children. He was raised and educated in the Cedar Vale and Moline, Kansas area, graduating from Moline High School. He joined the U.S. Navy, where he served as a medical corpsman with the Marine Corp. He served during the Korean War. After the service he used his medical training working at the WSH and TC two different times, as well as several other care facilities in Minnesota,  Oregon, and California.   He had also lived in Oklahoma.  He retired from the Winfield State Hospital in the 1990s. He had been a member of Winfield American Legion and was an avid fisherman.

He married Alice Jean Hocker on June 10, 1965, and she survives.  Other survivors are sons, Fred William "Bill" Duensing, Jr (Becky) of Wichita, Kansas and Shawn McCanse Duensing (Lesa) of Warrensburg, Missouri; daughter, April Deeann Duensing of Wichita, Kansas;  sisters, Leona Hamm of Ponca City, Oklahoma, Jeanie Kistler of Udall, Kansas, and June Rocky of Topeka, Kansas; 11 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by infant siblings, Robin, Andrew, Angie and a brother, Robert.

A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, March 16, 2012 at Swisher Taylor & Morris Chapel, 803 Loomis, Winfield, Kansas.  Inurnment will follow at the Kansas Veterans Cemetery in Winfield.  Condolences may be sent to funeraldirector@stmfh.com.

Read more here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/kansas/obituary.aspx?n=fred-william-duensing-bill&pid=156455394#storylink=cpy

[ddurbin]

Although I didn't know him well, I did have the pleasure of running into Bill several times over our years in Winfield, and he always had a story to tell about living in Moline.  More than once he'd tell me about something that happened while he helped milk cows for my grandfather, Charlie Durbin, out on the farm just west of town where Wanda Mills lives now.