Bob Van Huss passed away peacefully Wednesday, September 9, 2020.
Robert (Bob) Gene Van Huss was born January 2, 1929, to Fred and Beulah (Phillips) Van Huss, in Beaumont Kansas, older brother to James R. Van Huss.
Bob can trace his roots back to a town called Husum, on the North Frisian coast and the Jutland Peninsula. Husum is the place from which which the name Van Huss arose. His ancestors, Jan Franz Van Huss and his wife Volkje Van Nordstrand, left Husum after a devastating flood in 1634. The two settled in Amsterdam for a few years before sailing for America in 1642.
Bob was given no special advantages in life other than two loving parents. The Great Depression which began in the fall of 1929 brought unemployment to Kansas as it did everywhere, but it added almost a decade of drought and dust. Bob grew up in Butler County where one grandfather was Beaumont's only doctor, and another a farmer. Bob's dad Fred was a cattle broker, his mother the town postmistress and once a schoolteacher. During World War II, Bob watched Beaumont's sons, fathers, brothers and sisters go off to war, as he and his brother filled in to help on the farms. On the radio, Bob listened to the tunes of Big Band era, something he loved to do until the end.
When the Korean War broke out Bob and Jim served their country proudly. After his military service, Bob went to Fairmont College in Wichita (Wichita State University). He married Mary Miles, and they had five children, Diane, Robin, Laurie, Annie, and Billie. Bob and Mary endured the loss of their son Billie at a young age to leukemia. Despite the tragedy, Bob went on to provide for his family, working as a pharmaceutical salesman across Kansas. It was a life that kept him on the road, but it put a roof over the family's head and food on the table. Dinner was often Mary's special chicken recipe that the family adored. Bob only occasionally complained, saying that, as a child, he grew up on chicken, eating so much that he sprouted feathers on his arms. Bob and his wife Mary were both practical jokers, so there was merriment in the house.
Bob is survived by his four daughters and six grandchildren, all of whom loved him dearly.
