Paul (Paulie) Neff, 89, of Selden, Kansas died on March 27, 2019. He was born on September 12, 1929, to P. D. and Laura Neff at Selden, KS. He graduated from 8th grade while he was farming for his dad. He joined the army on February 15, 1951, and served as an Artillery Sargent in the Korean War. While at Camp Chaffee, he was a pitcher for the Divarty baseball team. He was discharged from the army on February 4, 1953. When he returned, he met the love of his life, Velma Marie Kaus, and they married on November 12, 1953, at the Immaculate Conception Church in Leoville, KS. The couple began their married life together on a farm north of Selden, KS. A year later they moved to Selden and operated a filling station. They then moved back to the farm. A short time later they moved to Oberlin, where he worked at Brown Motor Company and Decatur County Co-op. In 1962, they returned to the family farm where he resumed farming, which he loved. To this union were born six children: Bill, Chuck, Dorothy, Juanita, Mary, and Frank.
Paulie never met a stranger and treated everyone like a neighbor. Whether he was selling a bailer or sitting in a waiting room, he would strike up a conversation and make one walk away feeling like they had made a new friend. He announced baseball games, car shows, and many other community functions. He was very proud of what he called his “Gift of Gab”. Another one of the highlights of his life was helping Santa out at Christmas. For almost anyone who asked, whether it was a group function or just a neighbor wanting to see Christmas joy in their children’s faces, he would grab his suit and bag and head out to spread his Christmas cheer. Paulie also had a passion for fishing. Some of the family’s best memories are of fishing at Norton Lake.
He was a member of the Lion’s Club, American Legion, and the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Selden, where he was an usher regularly.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Velma (Kaus) Neff; brother Leo E. Neff; brothers-in-law Bill Kaus and Merlin Diederich; brother-in-law Jim Kaus and wife Twila.
Survivors include: three sons, Bill Neff, Norton, KS; Chuck Neff, Dresden, KS; Frank Neff and Sherry Green, Newton, KS; three daughters, Dorothy Prusa and husband Ken, Ames, IA; Juanita Jones and husband Richard, Westfield, IN; Mary Wilson and husband Todd, Rocksprings, TX; brother, Carl Neff and wife Charlotte, Norton, KS; sisters-in-law, Eileen Neff, North Platte, NE, and Lola Diederich, McCook, NE; brothers-in-law, Joe Kaus and wife Nora, Lafayette, CO, Tom Kaus and wife Teri, McAllen, TX, Alvin Kaus, and wife Ardis, Colby, KS; 12 grandchildren; 18 great-grandchildren, with 2 great-grandchildren on the way; and numerous nieces and nephews.
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