Stanley Edward Briggs was born on December 5, 1934, in Ottawa County, Kansas, the second son of Helen Walmsley Briggs and Edward Paul Briggs. He departed his earthly life on May 28, 2020 at the age of 85.
Stanley would be known throughout his life as a farmer. The family farm had been passed down through generations, beginning when Stanley’s Great Grandpa Walmsley received the land as part of the Homestead Act by President Ulysses S. Grant after the Civil War. Growing up on the family farm with his mother and his brother Carmen, Stanley attended early school in a one room schoolhouse in Lamar, Ottawa County, Kansas. He often told stories of riding his horse bareback to school, tying up his horse, only to find the horse gone when he got out of school. Walking home he would arrive to find his horse there waiting, apparently with a mind of his own much like his owner. His whole life Stanley would be quite fond of animals. As a young boy he enjoyed a variety of dogs, cats, and even a pet raccoon and later a monkey. Stanley was very involved in 4H and earned several first place and Champion ribbons at the Ottawa County Fair for his prized cow, Donie, and several pigs and sheep. By the time Stanley was a teenager, he was running the family farm himself with the help of hired men and his brother, Carmen. He graduated from Miltonvale High School 1953, where his fondest memories were being on the football team and going undefeated all four years, so he said! He attended Cloud County Community College later moving on to Kansas State University where he met the love of his life, Ruth Marie Kohr, a student at K-State from Salina, Kansas. There were married on June 8, 1958. While living on the family farm they had three young sons and one daughter. Shortly after the birth of their daughter in 1970, Stanley returned to Kansas State University graduating in 1972 with a degree in agricultural engineering. He would spend the next several years moving with his young family from Manhattan, KS to Hesston, Ks, Bismarck, ND and Beloit, Ks before later returning to Ottawa Co. Kansas in 1981 to be closer to the farm. During those years, Stanley continued to farm even while working as an engineer for various engineering firms. In the 1980s, he decided to start his own manufacturing business where he would self-produce many products designed to improve the efficiency of farming. A deep thinker, he spent his life designing and tinkering with farm and truck products all with the intent of making farming more efficient. His work produced several engineering awards and patents in his name.
In his later years, his children all grown, married and moved away, Stanley would continue to farm until after the summer of 2012, when Stanley by his own accord, came home from the farm and told his wife Ruth, “I’m done.” And Stanley, being a very strong-willed man, was really quite done and he would never farm again. In the Spring of 2013, he sold his equipment and leased his land. The following years he began to travel around the country with Ruth, visiting their children and vacationing with them. In the Spring of 2019 Stanley and Ruth moved into a senior living facility in Olathe, Kansas where they enjoyed being closer to their oldest son and his family.
Stanley was a beloved father and grandfather. He was very proud of his children and their families and was fond of boasting about them. His grandchildren were the light of his life and he was very devoted to them and all their activities. His family’s love for him was so great and immense and the world is a little darker without him. Stanley was preceded in death by his mother Helen, his estranged father Ed, and his brother Carmen. He is survived by his wife of 61 years Ruth, his sons David (Carla, Bradley (Lori, Andrew (Lori) and daughter, Cynthia (Mauricio, and eight grandchildren with one great grandchild on the way later this year.
Funeral for Stanley will be Tuesday, June 2 at 2 p.m. at Wilson Family Funeral Home with visitation Monday from 4 -8 p.m. He will be interred at Hall Cemetery, Ottawa County, Kansas.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, KS, or The Alzheimer’s Association at act.alz.org.