ORA DEAN BASS

JERICO SPRINGS- Services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Konantz Warden Funeral Home in Lamar for Ora Dean Bass, 74, Jerico Springs, who died Sunday, March 7, 2021.

The family will receive visitors beginning at 10 a.m.

Donations, in lieu of flowers, can be made to the Maple Grove Cemetery or to Milford Christian Church.

The obituary may be viewed and condolences sent online at www.konantzwarden.com.

Survivors include his high school sweetheart, “Sweetie” Donna Stebbins; siblings, Alfred Bass and wife Retta, Wichita, Kan., Wilma Volkman, Harrisonville and Nancy Boman and husband Mike, Lamar; two daughters Tonna Williamson and husband Mike and Tissa Bass, who live in Texas and four grandchildren. He is also survived by his nieces and nephews, their children and many family members who are united by love and caring rather than legal ties.

He was preceded in death by a brother, Lonny Bass; an infant son and an infant niece.

Mr. Bass was born Oct. 9, 1946, in Lamar, to Ora and Thelma Mae (Moore) Bass. He attended Lamar schools through eighth grade, when his family relocated to the family farm northeast of Lamar and he attended Lockwood High School, graduating in 1966. He was drafted immediately after graduation and served his country in the United States Army, serving one year in Vietnam.

He worked at several jobs in Waco, Texas. He was a mechanic and brake specialist for years and later attended McLennon Jr College to became a jailer and deputy sheriff for McLennon County. He moved back to Missouri to be closer to his aging parents.

He worked at Gilkey Automative as a mechanic and then went to work for, and retired from, Thorco as a maintenance man. He then went to work as a Barton County sheriff bailiff, where he remained until his health declined and he could no longer work.