OLIVER GEORGE RUSS, 94, of Seneca, KS died February 25, 2015 at Life Care Center of Seneca.

He was born August 10, 1920, on a farm southwest of Kelly, KS, the son of George C. and Pauline Wilhelm Russ. He first attended Sunny Knoll School near his home. Later the family moved to the Corning, KS, area where he attended several rural schools before graduating from Corning Rural High School in 1938. After a year of Normal Training, he taught in a rural school south of Sabetha for two years and at Pleasant Ridge School north of Baileyville, KS.

On July 7, 1942, he was drafted into the US Army and served in the Medical Corps in the South Pacific with the 27th General Hospital. After his discharge on January 3, 1946, he enrolled at Kansas State Agricultural College and earned a B.S. and a Master’s degree. He began working on the bindweed experiment field at Canton, KS, and then opened a new research field at Newton, KS. After a year and a half as superintendent of the Mound Valley Branch Experiment Station, he returned to the Manhattan Campus in 1965. He continued to work there as an agronomist in weed control research and advising graduate students in weed control research. In 1990 when he retired from Kansas State he moved to Lincoln, NE. In 1996 he moved to Seneca, KS.

As a member of the American Bluebird Society, he has continued a lifelong interest in Bluebirds and in restoring them to northeast Kansas. In recent years, he has maintained a 35 nesting-box trail for Bluebirds. He has checked the boxes weekly during the nesting season from March 1, to September 1. Usually about 150 bluebird nestlings are fledged each year. In addition to building bluebird nesting boxes, he also builds other bird houses and bird feeders.

He married Ruth Robison on September 6, 1946 at Corning, Kansas. She died October 17, 1956. On June 17, 1957, he married Marguerite Robison, from Pawnee City, NE, the sister of Ruth Robison.

Survivors are two daughters, Deborah Jo Russ Farwell and her husband Jim Farwell of Lincoln, NE and Deanne Russ of The French West Indies; a sister Irene Mohringer of Holton, KS; four grandchildren and three great grandson.

Besides his first wife, Ruth, and his second wife Marguerite; he was preceded in death by a sister, Alice Hauldren.

Funeral service will be Friday, February 27, 2015 at 1PM at the Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca. Inurnment will be in the Pawnee City Cemetery at Pawnee City, NE at a later date.

Memorials may be sent to Basic Cancer Research at Kansas State University.

OLIVER GEORGE RUSS, 94, of Seneca, KS died February 25, 2015 at Life Care Center of Seneca.

He was born August 10, 1920, on a farm southwest of Kelly, KS, the son of George C. and Pauline Wilhelm Russ. He first attended Sunny Knoll School near his home. Later the family moved to the Corning, KS, area where he attended several rural schools before graduating from Corning Rural High School in 1938. After a year of Normal Training, he taught in a rural school south of Sabetha for two years and at Pleasant Ridge School north of Baileyville, KS.

On July 7, 1942, he was drafted into the US Army and served in the Medical Corps in the South Pacific with the 27th General Hospital. After his discharge on January 3, 1946, he enrolled at Kansas State Agricultural College and earned a B.S. and a Master’s degree. He began working on the bindweed experiment field at Canton, KS, and then opened a new research field at Newton, KS. After a year and a half as superintendent of the Mound Valley Branch Experiment Station, he returned to the Manhattan Campus in 1965. He continued to work there as an agronomist in weed control research and advising graduate students in weed control research. In 1990 when he retired from Kansas State he moved to Lincoln, NE. In 1996 he moved to Seneca, KS.

As a member of the American Bluebird Society, he has continued a lifelong interest in Bluebirds and in restoring them to northeast Kansas. In recent years, he has maintained a 35 nesting-box trail for Bluebirds. He has checked the boxes weekly during the nesting season from March 1, to September 1. Usually about 150 bluebird nestlings are fledged each year. In addition to building bluebird nesting boxes, he also builds other bird houses and bird feeders.

He married Ruth Robison on September 6, 1946 at Corning, Kansas. She died October 17, 1956. On June 17, 1957, he married Marguerite Robison, from Pawnee City, NE, the sister of Ruth Robison.

Survivors are two daughters, Deborah Jo Russ Farwell and her husband Jim Farwell of Lincoln, NE and Deanne Russ of The French West Indies; a sister Irene Mohringer of Holton, KS; four grandchildren and three great grandson.

Besides his first wife, Ruth, and his second wife Marguerite; he was preceded in death by a sister, Alice Hauldren.

Funeral service will be Friday, February 27, 2015 at 1PM at the Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca. Inurnment will be in the Pawnee City Cemetery at Pawnee City, NE at a later date.

Memorials may be sent to Basic Cancer Research at Kansas State University.