Thomas R. Wempe, 80, of Scranton, KS, formerly of Seneca, died Tuesday, September 25, 2007, at an Osage City nursing home.

Tom was born on September 26, 1926 on the “Riverside Stock Farm,” the Wempe farmstead northeast of Seneca, the ninth of 10 children born to Clement and Josephine Eigenman. He attended Sts. Peter & Paul School, graduating in 1944. After school, he remained active in the operation of the family’s purebred livestock farm, raising cattle, hogs, Belgian draft horses and American saddle horses. In addition, they also raised Mammoth and Jenny mules. The horses were often featured in horse shows, and beginning at the age of nine Tom started to show with his dad at county fairs.

In the mid-1950s he went to work for Hydrotex Industries, an industrial petroleum products company, and managed two restaurants. He then worked for 15 years in the advertising department of Grolier’s, a publisher of school reference books.

On June 14, 1951, he married Mary Alice Bennett in Falls City, NE; they lived in Seneca until their divorce. Tom moved to Kearney NE, and then to Topeka. For a short time, he worked for the Cattle Buyers of Kansas City. He worked several years for the Winco Generator Company selling portable generators to farmers and contractors. He also worked for Hesse Construction Company in Topeka. Because of his background in livestock production, he began selling Nature’s Way Feed, marketing animal feed and supplements of minerals and vitamins. Realizing the importance of animal nutrition, he opened his own company, Enzyme Feed Products. Tom retired at age 68, and had been living in the Scranton area since 1982.

Tom was a member of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Scranton and the American Legion Capital Post #1. He was a former member of Sts. Peter & Paul Church in Seneca and the Shamrock Knights of Columbus Council #7769 in Osage City. Tom enjoyed raising chickens and having natural home-grown meat and eggs.

He is survived by his daughter, Connie Palmer of Emporia, KS; four sons, Conrad (CJ) Manray of Las Vegas, NV; Patrick Wempe of Tecumseh, NE, Thomas Weston of Parkville, MO and Charles Jaymes of La Cross, KS; a brother, Dr. Charles M. Wempe of York, NE; and many in-laws, nieces, nephews, and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents; two brothers, Dr Lillis R. and Wilfred Wempe; six sisters, Sister Mary Borgia (Audrey), Odelia Paxson, Thelma Wempe, Gladys Buser, Sister Mary Carmelite (Beatrice), Dorothy Wempe, and a long time special friend and companion Charlet Rosine.

A rosary will be prayed at 7 PM on Friday, September 28, at Lauer Funeral Home in Seneca. Mass of Christian Burial will be 9 AM Saturday at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in Seneca. Burial will be in the family plot in the church cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested for the Sts. Peter & Paul School or Sts. Peter & Paul Cemetery.