Richard "Dick" Cherry

Richard B. “Dick” Cherry, 95, Plainville, KS, passed Friday, January 6, 2023, at Redbud Village in Plainville.

He was born April 16, 1927, in Coldwater, Kansas to Blanche (Newton) Stanfield. Dick volunteered for the Navy at 17 years old, January 4, 1945, serving during World War II through September 1947. He was part of the air crew on a B-25 and PBJ-1 and some of his last missions were flying planes back from Japan after the war. He was honored two months ago by Senator Jerry Moran as one of the last remaining World War II veterans alive from Rooks County.

After the war he was working in the oil and gas field in Texas when he and his twin brother Bob were recruited to Plainville to play competitive town team baseball for the Plainville VFW team. He and his brother were Plainville’s “battery” – pitcher and catcher. Eventually they both received an invitation to try out with the Brooklyn Dodgers in Ponca City, Oklahoma. Neither made the team but it was the experience of a lifetime for a 22-year-old.

In Plainville he met and married Norma Jane Wise on November 1, 1950. He worked for Skelly Oil Company and later Atlantic Richfield, retiring in 1985 at age 55. He was an avid baseball player, bowler, and golfer and a New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys fan. As a bowler he had dozens of 700 series and a 299 game. He enjoyed “coaching” and helping local bowlers with their games, often telling them to “follow through," which symbolized how he lived his life. He was a member of the United Methodist Church and VFW Post #8871. He and Jane loved their dogs, and he was often seen cruising around Plainville in his pickup and later his golf cart or visiting at Plainville Short Stop or the Cardinal Drive Inn. For years he ate lunch at Rooks County Health Center as a regular.

He was preceded in death by his wife who was the love of his life, Jane; his mother Blanche, brothers Wallace, Bob, and Wayne Eugene, and sister Leoma. The couple did not have children but lived next door to Jane’s sister and brother-in-law, Margaret and Chick Selbe, and across the street from Jane’s brother and sister-in-law Richard and Esther Wise, and the Selbe and Wise children became the children they didn’t have.

He is survived by his nieces and nephew, Susan (Greg) Stahl and Lora (Randy) Weigel, both of Plainville, KS; Steve (Jackie) Selbe, Kingwood, TX; Sheila (Ken) Hachmeister, Natoma, KS; Barbara McLaughlin, Stockton, KS; and Janie (Eric) Simpson, Longmont, CO; and sister-in-law Marlene Stanfield, Park City, KS and family. He is also survived by numerous great nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews, all who knew him as “Uncle Dick.”

A Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday, January 10, 2023, at 10:30 AM at the funeral home in Plainville. Visitation will be on Monday, 1PM until 7PM with the family receiving friends 4:30PM until 6PM at the funeral home.

Memorials are suggested to Plainville United Methodist Church or Andreson Memorial Park and may be sent to Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home, 320 SW 2nd St., Plainville, KS 67663.