LITTLETON, Colo. — Willie Edwin Schultz, 78, died on July 7, 2011 at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix, Ariz. surrounded by his wife, children and grandson.
Born July 26, 1932 in Russell, he was the son of Alexander David Schultz and Mollie Weimaster Schultz. He grew up on a farm in southeast Russell County and attended a one room school house for the first eight grades. In 1950, he graduated from Russell High School and was involved in football, track and played on the 1949 Russell High School state championship basketball team.
After graduation, he went to work in the oil fields for the Isern Brothers and served in the Army for two years in Texas and Germany during the Korean War. He moved to Ellinwood in 1956 after being discharged from the Army and lived in Ellinwood for 40 plus years before moving to Littleton, Colo. He was in Crude Oil Production. On Jan. 16, 1999 he married Marietta (LeBlanc-Shadley) Schultz in Littleton, Colo. He enjoyed doodle-bugging, farming, fishing, flying airplanes, traveling abroad and annual family trips.
Mr. Schultz served on the Ellinwood city council; the Peoples State Bank board of directors; the First National Bank & Trust Company board of directors in Great Bend and Ellinwood: as Sunday school superintendent for 10 years at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Ellinwood. He was a Wheat Bowl founder; and served as president and co-owner of Isern-Schultz Oil and Gas. Inc. He was a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and  St. Philip Lutheran Church in Littleton, Colo.
Survivors include his wife, Marietta Schultz, Littleton, Colo.; two sons, Thomas Schultz, Flower Mound, Texas; and Brian Schultz and his wife Jenny, Grapevine, Texas; a daughter, Susan Wilson and her husband Daniel, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia; a sister, Esther Rassett, Russell; and three grandchildren, Derek Wilson, Plano. Texas; and Jacqueline and Sophia Schultz, Grapevine, Texas.
He was preceded in death by two sons, Kirk Edwin Schultz and Curtis Lee Schultz; a daughter, Holly Diane Schultz; a brother. Julius Schultz; and a sister, Gladys M. Shadley.
A “Celebration of Life” Memorial Service is scheduled at 11 a.m. on Nov. 12 at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Ellinwood with Pastor Jeffrey Frakes officiating. Burial will be at the Lakin-Comanche District Cemetery in Ellinwood. Memorials are suggested to American Heart Association, Ellinwood Area Health Care Foundation or to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Ellinwood.

Funeral arrangements provided by
Kimple Inc. Funeral Home*
113 N. Main, P.O. Box 246
Ellinwood, KS, 67530
Great Bend (Kan) Tribune, Nov. 6, 2011