Albert W. Jesseph, 88, Humboldt, died Wednesday, September 24, 2008, at Pinecrest Nursing Home, Humboldt.

He was born April 27, 1920, in Iola to Albert Oliver and Amanda Luvada Dennis Jesseph. He was raised in the Piqua/Neosho Falls area and graduated from Iola High School in 1938.

After his schooling he traveled to the West Coast where he worked at a few jobs, including apple-picking in Washington. He attended the World’s Fair in San Francisco, Calif.

He entered the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1940 and was stationed in South Carolina. He served during World War II and the Korean War and was discharged from what had then become the U.S. Air Force in 1952. He joined the Kansas National Guard in 1972, serving eight years for a total of 20 years of military service. He retired as captain. He was proud to have been involved in the military during three wars — World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

He married Marie Hurst on Dec. 24, 1942, in Sumter, S.C. She died on Dec. 4, 1976. He married Reba Vestal on April 24, 1982, in Wichita. She survives.

After his discharge in 1952 he and his wife moved their family to a farm in the Perry Township east of Yates Center where he farmed and raised livestock. In the mid-1960s he quit farming and worked at several jobs before getting into the oil business. He also operated a service station in Yates Center.

Following his marriage to Reba, the couple made their home east of Yates Center until moving to Humboldt in 2004.

He was a member of the V.F.W. in Iola, the National Farmer’s Organization, Woodson County Election Board, and the Mound Valley Fiddlers and Pickers Club.

Survivors include three sons and daughters-in-law, Albert Wayne Jr. and Karen Jesseph, Yates Center, Glenn and Pat Jesseph, Belton, Mo., and Grady and LeAnn Jesseph, Shawnee; two daughters and sons-in-law, Jeanette and Ron Jeffers, and Tracy and Mike Forsythe, all of Olathe; two stepdaughters and a stepson-in-law, Patricia and Mike Brown, Mounds, Okla., and Cheryl Leonard, Hulbert, Okla.; 14 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; a brother, Dennis Jesseph, Miami, Okla.; and three sisters, Beulah Purcell, Yates Center, and Martha Irton and Alice Schwartz, both of Winfield.

He was preceded in death by a daughter, Cindy Wells; a stepson, Darrell McBeath; a brother, Henry Jesseph; and a sister, Margaret Bitz.

Funeral will be 1:30 p.m. Monday at the Campbell Funeral Home, Yates Center.

Mr. Jesseph will lie in state from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the funeral home.

Contributions to Neosho County Memorial Hospice may be made in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 188, Yates Center, KS 66783.