W.E. "Mack" Meckenstock

1915-2008

Known as "Mack" to his friends, most people did not know his given name was Wilbur Emery; only his mother called him "Wilb," a fond reminder of Wilbur. He was born (March 22, 1915; Enterprise, KS) in the spring when life returns to nature, and he passed peacefully in his sleep (November 16, 2008; Hays, KS) in the fall when God puts nature to rest. He was 93.

Wilbur was the grandson of German and Irish immigrants, and the sole child of Otto Charles Meckenstock and Maude Hart. He came from modest beginnings to live a blessed and full life. As a boy, he hoed field corn in the heat of the summer and hung-out in his father's Chevrolet garage; he never lost his love for automobiles. He graduated from Kirwin High School (1932) and played on the senior basketball team. As a teenager, he added a larger box and springs to a three-quarter ton truck and hauled wheat and ice to friends and neighbors to earn money for college.

He attended Fort Hays State University and worked part time in the library for 25-cents an hour. In his junior year he met Alma Berndt, who also worked in the library. He graduated (1937) from Fort Hays with a B.S. in Business Administration and Economics. He was a life long supporter of the University and was a member of the Century Club, President's Club, Lyman Dwight Wooster Society, and Phi Sigma Epsilon.

He told his four children many stories of his college years; how he drove a four mule team on a scraper one winter vacation to help build a section of road on Highway 183 south of Glade. And when a dust storm hit Hays during a basketball game at Sheridan Coliseum he and his friends had to hold hands to find their way down the alley to get home.

Upon graduation from college, he moved to McPherson, KS and began working as a salesman for the Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company. While in McPherson, he was asked to chaperon Dale Carnegie to a Chamber of Commerce event. Carnegie immediately took a liking to him and when Wilbur put him on the train, Carnegie told him, "Wilbur, you are a fine young man, but if you want to make it in sales, you have to change your name." From that day on Wilbur called himself "Mack."

World War II interrupted his private life. Just before getting called into the army, he married his college sweetheart, Alma Marie Berndt of Herndon, KS. He used to laugh how "lucky 7," his draft number, made him the first married man in McPherson to get drafted (1941). He worked his way up through the ranks. He received a commission (1943) at Officers Candidate School, Army Finance School at Duke University, Durham NC. He served as a Finance Officer at Fort Weingarten, MO and was honorably discharged from the US Army as Captain, Finance Department (1946). This experience broadened his understanding of the financial world and served him well throughout the rest of his life.

After military service, Mack, Alma and baby David moved to Oberlin, KS where he began selling for Penn Mutual again. In these early years, he was always on the road at night, visiting farmers after they came in from their fields. It was not long before a young bushytailed salesman named "Mack" won his company's prestigious award for most lives sold (1950). He was never bashful to start a conversation, even if that person was a stranger. He seemed to know everybody's name in Northwest Kansas, and if he did not know you personally, he knew a relative -- he was rich in friends and acquaintances.

Mack and Alma moved to Hays in 1958... saying they wanted to raise their children in a college town. Their goal was to give their children an education and a better start in life than they had; they both worked hard and sacrificed to do this.

Throughout his career as an insurance salesman he received many honors. Most notably, he was a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table since 1954. He served as KALU President for the 1960-61 term. In 1973, he founded Fort Hays Financial Planning, which evolved -- with assistance from his two sons David and Bobb -- into the Meckenstock Group and Main Street Securities. After 62 years in the insurance business, and at the age of 84, Wilbur retired (1999) and fulfilled a life long desire of passing the business he worked hard to build on to his two sons Bobb and David. He continued to live in his residence in Hays and was cared for by his son Dan, and later his daughter Lea -- a nurse -- and her husband Bill.

Wilbur was a member of the Celebration Community Church of Hays; American Legion post #173; Masonic Order lodge #195; and Order of the Eastern Star chapter #228. He was honored as King of the Old Settlers Day in Kirwin in 2004.

Survivors include a daughter Lea A. Bush and husband Bill, Hays; two sons, Dan H. Meckenstock, Hays, and Bobb A. Meckenstock and wife Shay, Hays; and daughter-in-law Mary Meckenstock; eleven grandchildren, David Todd Meckenstock and wife Chantelle, London UK, Kris Meckenstock and wife Melinda, Wichita, Erin Chacey and husband Michael, Kansas City MO, Daniel Joseph Bush, Colorado Springs, Tracy Clark and husband David, Colorado Springs, Bret Bush, Hays, Sarah Weimer and husband Brian, Hays, Gennifer Marconette and husband Levi, Hays, Heather Jamison and husband Daron, Hays, Jean Meckenstock, Hays, Nicola Giovanni Varoli, Santiago, Chile; seven great-grandchildren, Trent and Tyler Meckenstock, both of Wichita, Noah and Jack Weimer, both of Hays, Simon Chacey, Kansas City, MO, Meran Marconette, Hays, and Basha Jamison, Hays; plus four more great-grandchildren to be born in spring/summer of 2009.

Wilbur was preceded in death by his parents; wife Alma Marie Berndt (1996), and eldest son David Lee Meckenstock (2005).

Memorial services will be held at 11:00 am Saturday at the Hays Memorial Chapel, 20th & Pine, Hays. The body was cremated, ashes to be interred at Mt. Allen Cemetery.

Memorials are suggested to the Meckenstock Family Memorial Scholarship, FHSU Foundation, in care of the funeral home.