Kerry Lynn Wallace

Kerry Lynn Wallace, 62, passed away Saturday, March 17, 2018 at his home in Thorndale. He was born in Emporia, Kansas the son of Donald Lee and Delores Elaine Knight Wallace. Growing up he and his family lived in Gardner and Williamsburg. Kerry finished High School in  Lebo and graduated with The Class of 1974. He went on to attend the Flint Hills Vo Tech for two years focusing on electrical studies.  He began working at WIBW and also at his Great Uncle Bill Knight’s service station in Topeka. His hard work ethic began years earlier when he worked at Gardner Grain and hauled hay for local farmers.   Kerry married Linda Julian and they have two daughters together, Melanie and Laura. Kerry and Linda later divorced.   Kerry enlisted in the United States Army in October of 1979. He served in Korea and Germany.  He proudly served for eleven years  before receiving an honorable discharge on March 20, 1990. Kerry would later serve twenty years in the Kansas Army National Guard.  His patriotism carried forward with his memberships in the American Legion Post #5 of Emporia and the American Legion Riders.   During his time in Germany, Kerry taught square dance for the Moon Swingers in Memmingen and the Puss’N Boots in Neu-Ulm. It was during his first class that he met Ulli Sailer. They would marry on September 9, 1990 and he became a dad to Ulli’s children, Tanja and Svenja.  Kerry worked at a bicycle factory  in Germany before returning to Kansas to be nearer his daughters.   After returning to Kansas he continued his love of square dancing and calling with the Ottawa Promenaders and the Bluestem Swingers  He worked at IBP in Emporia and later for his parents, running Reeble Monuments.  He would later purchase the monument business and operate it as his own for several years. Kerry was a longtime member of the Sertoma Club and a member of the Lebo Masonic Lodge #152 AF&AM.  Kerry will live on in the hearts of his wife, Ulli of their home; daughters, Melanie Bohn and her husband Jared of Milwaukee, Laura DeBusk and her husband Tim of Topeka, Tanja Skountakis of Memmingen, Germany and Svenja Gromer of Buxheim, Germany; sisters, Linda Campbell and her husband Richard of Hutchinson and Sheri Wallace of Park City; eleven grandchildren; numerous extended family and a countless friends.  The family would like to invite you to a gathering and time of remembrance on Saturday, April 7, 2018  from 3:00 P.M. until 5:00 P.M. at the Jones VanArsdale Funeral Home in Lebo. The family requests that in lieu of flowers friends give generously to  CaringBridge.org or Hand In Hand Hospice. Condolences may be expressed at vanarsdalefs.com.