Orville Everett Kingery, Jr., 91, Lincoln, passed away Sunday, March 16, 2008. He was born September 6, 1916, in Lincoln and lived there all of his life. He is preceded in death by his wife of more than 40 years, Mary Frances (Ingles) Kingery, parents Orville Everett Kingery, Sr. and Janey Ann (Bristow) Kingery, brother Wayne Bristow Kingery and sister Betty Jane (Kingery) Hales.
During the 1920’s and 1930’s, Orville would travel with his father to western Nebraska and help build projects, including schools in Harrison, Bridgeport and the Abbott House (1928) in Alliance on Box Butte Avenue, which has an elevator; they also built schools in Wakefield and Hebron. They would live in boarding houses and camp out for fun on the weekends fishing. He was very well read and could discuss any topic a person would choose. He was an Eagle Scout, built radios and was a licensed amateur “ham” radio operator in the 1930s. In the 1960’s, he was a co-founder of the Construction Management Department at the University of Nebraska. He graduated from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln with an Architectural Engineering degree. He liked to ride horses and golf.
He joined the United States Navy in December 1942, serving 38 months in World War II; he attended Navy officer’s school at Harvard University and always liked to say “he attended Harvard.” He was stationed in the South Pacific performing harbor depth soundings in a small boat prior to invasions, island area surveys and was the ships communications officer. He served overseas at Pearl Harbor, Noumea – New Caledonia, Guadalcanal – Solomon Islands, Bougainville – New Guinea, Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Ulithi Atoll, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima, Leyte Gulf – Philippines, Okinawa, Korea and China. He returned in December 1945, and rejoined the family business becoming president of Kingery Construction Company in 1964. He loved construction work and cared greatly for every person that worked in the company and their families.
He is survived by his wife Dorothy (Askey) Kingery, daughter Frances Ann Kingery – Maryland, sons Christian Everett (Mary) Kingery and William Douglass (Phyllis) Kingery – Lincoln, grandchildren Virginia Kingery (Dan) Briggs – Texas, David Kingery – Nevada, Michael and Sam Kingery – Lincoln, Michelle Trusdale (Nathan) Johnson – Fremont. Great-grandchildren Ryan and Lauren Briggs. Brother in law Harvey Hales, sister in law Kathryn Kingery, Dorothy’s daughter Jeanie (Earl) Imler. Many nieces and nephews.
Memberships include American Legion Club, The Country Club of Lincoln, Elks Lodge #80, UNL Touchdown Club, UNL Alumni Champions Club, past president of the Associated General Contractors Nebraska Building Chapter, Sigma Lambda Chi – honorary construction fraternity, Theta Xi fraternity, Admiral in the Nebraska Navy and University of Nebraska football letterman. He is a life long member of Second Baptist Church.
Memorial Service: 11:00 a.m. Thursday (3-20-08) Roper and Sons Chapel, 4300 ‘O’ St. Private family interment prior to memorial service.
Visitation beginning 3:00 p.m. Tuesday until service time with family greeting friends from 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, funeral home.
Memorials maybe given to The Salvation Army, POB 30232, Lincoln NE 68503 or Boy Scouts Cornhusker Council, POB 269, Walton, NE 68520.