Lyndal Ramesbothom

L.L. Ramesbothom, better known as Lynn, was born April 28, 1930, in Sioux City, Iowa, and died February 28, 2016, at the Holton Community Hospital, near his home in Netawaka, Kansas. He was 85 years, 10 months old at the time of his death. He is survived by Marilyn, his wife of 65 years. Other survivors include his three daughters; Rhonda Blann of Spring Hill, Kansas; Debbie Anderson of Netawaka, Kansas; and Renee Wiles, of Kansas City, Kansas. Lynn has ten grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, three sisters, one brother, and his daughter Laurie Ramesbothom-Jensen. Always an adventuresome young man, he spoke often of the time when as a teen he and his brother rode a Harley from their Iowa home to California and back. The return trip over the Rockies was memorable, with Lynn using a blanket to block the freezing snow that threatened Bud's hands and face. Lynn always marveled that on arriving home, they pulled into the yard and the transmission case split in half, effectively killing the motorcycle! While a high school student at Oak Park Academy in Nevada, Iowa, Lynn met Marilyn Bemer. They were wed December 24, 1950. Their choice of dates proved somewhat frustrating in later years, as they found it difficult to find a restaurant open on Christmas Eve so they could celebrate their anniversary. Lynn served his country during the Korean Conflict as a non-combatant in the U.S. Army, stationed in Seoul. While in his basic training at Ft. Riley, he joined in a game of football and was hit pretty hard by an opponent. He completed his training period with quite a bit of pain in his side, only later learning he had broken some ribs in that game! He also enjoyed relating an experience of duck hunting with members of his unit, during which he was the only one to drop any birds! Following his time in military service, he and Marilyn lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, where their oldest daughter, Rhonda, was born. The family then relocated to Laramie, Wyoming, where Lynn joined a friend in the stone quarrying business. The time spent in Wyoming awakened in him a lifelong love of the Snowy Range. The memories of hiking, fishing and camping called him back to the Rockies time and again. Daughters Debbie and Laurie were born while at Laramie. Marilyn relates that when she was leaving the hospital after Debbie's birth, the nurse said "see you next year!" Sure enough, Laurie was born 363 days after Debbie, leading to years of conflict between the girls, with Laurie twitting Debbie about the two days each year that they were the same age. Lynn moved the family to Manhattan, Kansas, in the fall of 1956. He grew quickly dissatisfied with working for others, and thus another entrepreneurial endeavor began. His skill with a dozer and front-end loader grew rapidly, and his crews poured basement foundations in Manhattan and throughout the surrounding area. While living in Manhattan, the family grew by one more, when Renee arrived. He gave many hours of his time to needed work at Enterprise Academy, the boarding high school from which all four of his daughters graduated. Additionally, his dozer work is appreciated every season youngsters take that final hairpin turn in the driveway he opened into Broken Arrow Ranch, the Seventh-day Adventist Church's summer camp on Tuttle Creek Reservoir. Lynn and his family enjoyed many hours of boating and skiing on Tuttle Creek. While running a business fulltime might completely occupy the energies of most, in the mid-1970's Lynn used his evenings and Sundays to farm in Pottawatomie County, raising beef cattle and building a herd of horses that at one time numbered in the teens! As the farmhouse was being remodeled and expanded, Marilyn asked that Lynn place a decorative rock or two in the front yard. Before many days had gone by, he hauled in a massive piece of stone, saying he almost tipped over the Caterpillar in loading the stone on his lowboy. When they moved back to Manhattan, the rock stayed behind! Lynn eventually decided to retire from the construction industry. In 1988 he sold most of his equipment and moved to a farm in southcentral Missouri, near West Plains. He again began raising beef cattle and horses. His excavating skills were put to good use in building watershed ponds, clearing the brush and tree covered hills of his farm, and improving the pastures with better grass mixtures. While baling hay one summer, Lynn stepped off the tractor to dislodge a round bale that was stuck in the baler. You can imagine his response when the tractor began rolling downhill, faster than he could run! The Ford 5600 was repaired, and remains in his collection. When family members encouraged him to develop a hobby, he decided to give rein to his love for classic tractors. He followed his usual pattern of all-out effort, and at one time had acquired over 80 tractors of every make and color. His real love was for the 2-cylinder John Deere sound, and the care he took in his restoration work is remarkable. As the years went by, the daughters encouraged Lynn and Marilyn to move back to Kansas. By this time Lynn was farming in northeast Missouri, just south of Clarence. The move to Kansas finally took place in 2011, and it required almost a dozen trips with two trucks and trailers to haul all of Lynn's tractors, implements, and other collectible items to Netawaka. Lynn found the newly built 54 by 80 foot shop just what he needed to house the 30-plus tractors that made up his collection at that time. He once again found good use for his dozer skills, as the three acre lot was badly overgrown with brush and small trees. Once the clearing was done, two outbuildings were discovered that even the realtor didn't know of! Lynn suffered a stroke on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day, 2014. He struggled to regain his strength and mobility, refusing to let his diminished function define who he was or what he could accomplish, so much so that he broke two bones in his leg, yet later in the year He was able to operate his Ferris lawnmower during the 2015 mowing season, a point of pride for him. A heart attack in mid-February led to his recent death. Lynn was a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The day before his death, he expressed dismay at being unable to attend Sabbath services at the Wanamaker SDA Church in Topeka. As a memorial to Lynn's life, Marilyn is funding educational expense for three students through Adventist Child India. Contributions to the L.L. Ramesbothom memorial account may be sent to the Wanamaker Adventist Church, 2435 SW Wanamaker Road, Topeka, KS, 66614.