William Ernst Vogel was born on the Vogel Family Farm January 24th, 1922 in rural
Box Butte County, NE. He passed away at his beloved farm home on March 23rd, 2018.
His parents are William H & Rosa M (Knapp) Vogel.  Being the 1st born son, he was
named after his father, and had many farm responsibilities in the large family of nine.
He attended rural school at Dist. #45 & #58, graduating 8th grade, then was needed
on the family farm.  He was one of the few remaining WWII veterans, serving in the
Army- Air Force from 1944 to 1946.

On Sept 11, 1948 he married Patricia I Jacobs at the Immanuel Lutheran Church in Alliance NE.

He is survived by his 2 loving and caring daughters, Cindy (Don) Zurn and Sandy
(Tom) Todd; by four grandchildren: Curt (Becci) Zurn, Nicky (Jeff Shepard), Clint
(Cassie) Zurn, Brandi (Gregg) List; by 10 great grandchildren: Tyler Girard, Callen
, Avery & Nic Zurn, Dylan & Dani Lomon, Trevor & Will Zurn, and Gavin & Coy List.
He is also survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Elsie and Ray Brandt, and by
many nieces, nephews; and great nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Pat Vogel; his parents, grand-parents,
his siblings/spouses: Esther (Doyle) Dyer, Ruth (Paul) Morrison, Mabel (Dean) Hashman,
Pearl (Owen) Johnson, Herb (Mabel) (Betty) Vogel; nieces: Barb Lehl, Jane Wineteer,
nephew: Larry Morrison; and brother-in-law, Jimmy Jacobs, and parents-in-law.

He was a member of the United Methodist Church, and lifetime member of the American
Legion and Eagles Clubs.

Bill was an excellent farmer, taking great pride in sowing straight rows and eradicating
all weeds, including the adjoining road ditches, around telephone poles and in their
immaculate yard.  He witnessed much advancement in the farming world in his lifetime,
having begun farming with horses and picking corn by hand to having GPS driven tractors,
120’ wide field sprayers and 12- row corn heads farm his same land.  He thought the
power PTO and hydraulics were the greatest inventions.  Farming was his life, and even
after unofficially retiring, he had an active say-so in the farming operations of his land
until his death.

Besides farming, he worked for Box Butte County during the ’49 blizzard, opening roads.
He also did custom harvesting, worked for Jelinek Farms, and drove cattle truck for Christie
Trucking, along with a wide array of other odd jobs. He was a hard worker, but he
also played hard.

He had a love of baseball, having played on the Berea baseball team during the 1940-50’s.
The St. Louis Cardinals was his favorite team and he was anxiously waiting the upcoming season.

Bill Vogel loved telling stories. And you could be sure 50% of every story was true; you just
never knew which 50%.  These included many fishing and hunting stories.

Billy will be infamously remembered for his ability to stand on two cases of beer, flat footed
on one foot and using the other foot to kick out a light bulb hanging from the ceiling on a drop
cord. Sandy, along with many others was witness to this feat, losing money on a bet that was
instigated by him.

Bill was banned for life from the Prairie Winds Casino for drinking in the parking lot.
Now, everyone knows you can’t drink at that casino, and many have done just that and
got by with it. But Bill wasn’t hiding anything because that rule didn’t apply to him; he
always thought rules were for everyone else. We are pretty sure he wrote all rules.
He believed that having permission is only good for one day; you had to ask every time
you wanted to hunt on his land.  In the more recent years, he took great pride in
protecting the wildlife on his property, raising millet and sunflowers to feed them and
supplementing them with daily feeding routes year-round.

Anheuser Busch Brewing and the Yukon Jack Distillery are, we are sure, devastated by
the loss of Billy Vogel. On his 90th birthday, he received birthday greetings in the mail
from Budweiser. On the front of the bottle of Yukon Jack it is written, “The Black Sheep
of Liquors”-pretty sure they had one guy in mind with that statement.  Well, we could
go on and on, but there isn’t near enough space here.

All in all, God created this farmer, fisherman, hunter and conservationist we are laying
to rest, to do all things to perfection; to argue a point and not give in, that you collect a
quarter if you are the one that caught the first fish, and to leave a legacy like none other.
His family is almost certain he stopped in at some convenience store to grab a Budweiser
on his way to them ole Pearly Gates.

Funeral service will be held Friday, March 30th, 2018 at the United Methodist Church
at 10 am, followed by Military burial rites at the Alliance Cemetery. Memorials may be
given to Pheasants Forever-Heritage Chapter, 1039 Duncan, Alliance, NE 69301 or to
the donor’s choice.

Online condolences may be left at www.batesgould.com.