Glenn Moritz

OSMOND - Services for Glenn Moritz, 79, of Osmond were Friday at St. Mary's Catholic Church with burial in the parish cemetery and military honors by American Legion Post 326. Ashburn Funeral Home was in charge.

He died Sunday, July 12, 2009, at Osmond.

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Francis Glenn Moritz was born on Sept. 29, 1929, to Frank and Olga Moritz in Overton and graduated from Lexington High School in 1949. He served two years in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, from 1951 to 1952, and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1954 with a degree in agriculture economics.

Glenn met Betti Andersen while attending the university, and they were married on Dec. 29, 1953, in Ord.

Throughout high school, Glenn was an avid 4-H showman and sportsman. He was one of Nebraska's delegates to the National 4-H Club Congress held in Chicago in 1948 and earned all-state honors in football. In baseball he was a standout catcher playing for the Nebraska Independent League. Glenn caught for the legendary Lefty Haines. He also qualified for the state track meet in discus and was named to the National Honor Society.

While attending college, Glenn was a member of the Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, the freshman football team and the Nebraska Air National Guard. When activated for the Korean War, he served as a flight engineer on the A-26B with the 132nd Fighter-Bomber Wing at Dow Air Force Base, Bangor, Md., and at the Air Force base in Alexandria, La., as a technical sergeant.

Glenn and Betti lived in Exeter until Betti completed her teaching job, and they moved to Lincoln where Glenn sold insurance for New York Life. The couple moved to Yankton, S.D., in 1955 when Glenn started his agricultural career as a sales manager with Steckley Genetic Giant Seed Co. In 1964, the Moritz family moved to Osmond. Glenn continued working in the seed industry until retiring from Cargill in 1994.

He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and American Legion. He served on the Osmond town council and Pierce County Planning Commission. For five years Glenn was scoutmaster of Troup 128 during which time Kevin Schuettler earned Eagle Scout honors. Glenn also coached youth baseball teams and taught agriculture to returning veterans in Randolph and Plainview for the Veterans Administration's program.

Glenn loved flying and was qualified as a single-engine commercial pilot. He also loved hunting, Husker football and most of all his family. His last deer hunting trip was with his children and grandchildren in the fall of 2007 in Arnold.

Glenn is survived by his wife, Betti; and six children, son Brett and wife Denise of Sparks, Md., son Blake and wife Debra of Elmhurst, Ill., daughter Gayla and husband Jim Camoriano of Columbia, Mo., daughter Lisa of San Diego, Calif., son Michael and wife Karen of Papillion and son Mitchell and wife Michelle of Geneva, Ill.; 14 grandchildren and sister Ruth Conner of Arnold.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Frank and Olga Moritz, and his daughter, Gratia Moritz.

Memorial donations can be made to the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, www.jimmyv.org.