WILLARD RAY BACKS

LOCKWOOD- Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Immanuel Lutheran Church for Willard Ray Backs, 91, Lockwood, who died Monday, May 6, 2019, at Good Shepherd Community Care and Rehabilitation. Burial will follow in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery at Meinert.

Visitation will be held from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, at the church.

Arrangements are under the direction of Greenfield Funeral Home.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Immanuel Lutheran School or to Lockwood American Legion Post No. 372 Roy E. Carr.

Online condolences may be shared at www.greenfieldfuneralchapel.com.

Survivors include two sons, Larry Backs and wife Susan, Overland Park, Kan. and Ronnie Backs and wife Teresa, Lockwood; four grandchildren, Kristen Backs, Jordan Backs, Ryan Backs and wife Meagan and Caroline Backs and a sister, Janet Knaust, Joplin.

He was preceded in death by one sister and two brother-in-laws.

Mr. Backs was born Aug. 30, 1927, near Meinert, to Henry and Edna (VonStrohe) Backs. He was a 1946 graduate of Lockwood High School. He was a US Army veteran of both WW II and the Korean Conflict. After an honorable discharge he returned to the farm and lived there until entering Good Shepherd in July of 2013.

He was a member of Roy E. Carr American Legion Post No. 372, as well as Veteran’s Vocational Education program. He served on the Dade County Farm Services Administration Committee, was a MFA Oil delegate and 30 plus year member as treasurer of the Grant Township Road Board. He also served as a board member for MFA Farmer’s Exchange and Good Shepherd Nursing Home, where he served as board president.

He served as elder and trustee at Zion Lutheran Church in Meinert, prior to transferring to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lockwood where he served on various committees.

He married Lorine D. Kriessler on Nov. 5, 1955, at Zion Lutheran Church in Lincoln. She preceded him in death in August of 2018.