Bruce Edwin Hemphill, age 68, a resident of Ft. Scott, Kansas, passed away Saturday, May 4, 2019, at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.
He was born October 11, 1950, in Lamar, Missouri, the son of Emmett David Hemphill and Beulah Marie Slates Hemphill.
Bruce married Jamie Marie Lowry on October 3, 1985, at Ft. Scott. Bruce served with the United States Air Force for eleven and a half years where he served as a boom operator on mid-air refueling missions.
Following his time with the military, Bruce worked in maintenance for various manufacturing businesses. He then served as a service technician for Peddinghaus Corp. for nineteen years. While with Peddinghaus, he traveled throughout the United States and Canada and even made a service trip to England. He later worked in maintenance for Sugar Creek Packing and Russell Stover. Because of his time with the Air Force, Bruce had a love of airplanes and enjoyed attending air shows.
He also enjoyed stock car racing and was an avid NASCAR fan. He loved fishing with his children and grandchildren and watching programs on the History and Discovery channels.
Survivors include his wife, Jamie, of the home; his six children, Mary Reynolds and husband Brian, of Maple Falls, Washington; Christopher Lowry and wife Renee, of Long Island City, New York;Michael Waring and wife Alicia, of Nevada, Missouri; Cynthia “Squirrel” Hemphill-Witham and husband Adam, of Ft. Scott; Sean Hemphill, of Ft. Scott and Nicholas Hemphill, also of Ft. Scott; nine grandchildren, Jeff Reynolds and wife Malia, Thomas Reynolds and wife Monica, Alexys and Rachael Lowry, Ryan, Kale, and Idessea Waring and Koda Miller and Crysta Witham; four great-grandchildren, Beckett and Sawyer Reynolds and Jaxon and Ashlynn Reynolds; as well as several adopted grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Also surviving are his mother, Beulah Hemphill of Lamar, Missouri; his sister, Barbara Lee, also of Lamar and Clifford Hemphill, of North Carolina.
He was proceeded in death by his father, Emmett D. Hemphill, former Police Chief of Lamar, Mo.
Private burial with military honors will take place in the U. S. National Cemetery in Fort Scott, Kansas.
Memorials are suggested to the Bruce Hemphill Memorial Fund and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Ft. Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.