Emmett A. Steinlage, 65, of Kelly, KS, died Wednesday May 15, 2002, shortly after arrival at the Sabetha Hospital. He suffered a heart attack near Sabetha while working for Nemaha County.

He was born July 9, 1936, at the Sabetha Hospital, the son of Joseph F. and Mary Brokamp Steinlage. The family lived on a farm west of Kelly where he attended St. Bede’s Grade School, and graduated from Kelly High School in 1954. He farmed with his dad and his brother Galen.

On May 11, 1963, he married Elizabeth “Betty” Ladish at St. Bede’s Church in Kelly. They lived two miles west of Kelly for 34 years where they operated a dairy and raised grain crops. In November of 1996 he retired from farming and began work with Nemaha County in the Road and Bridge Department. They moved 1/4-mile north of Kelly to their present home. His wife Betty survives of the home.

He was a member of St. Bede’s Church and the St. Joseph Society at the church in Kelly, the Mid-American Dairymen, and the Nemaha County Co-op. He was a former member of the Knights of Columbus in Seneca where he bowled in a league; he also bowled in a league at the Seneca Bowl.

Survivors besides his wife Betty are two sons, Timothy Steinlage of Seneca and Eron Steinlage of Emporia; a daughter, Pamela Smith of Topeka; a brother, Galen Steinlage of Corning; two sisters, Lucina “Cindy” Henry of Centralia and Ruth Richardson of Belton, MO; and six grandchildren.

Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister, Joan Ronnebaum, and her son, Michael, in an auto accident on March 27, 1986.

Mass of Christian burial will be 10 AM Saturday at St. Bede’s Church in Kelly. Burial will be in the church cemetery. Rosaries will be prayed at 2 & 7 PM Friday at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca.

Memorials may be given for St. Bede’s Cemetery, the American Heart Association, or the American Cancer Society, and sent in care of the family.