Richard Edward Erb
Richard Erb, was born December 23, 1925 at a very young age. Over time, he grew older. Little Richard was the baby boy of Fred and Elizabeth Erb. He had five older brothers, one older sister and eight younger sisters. (If our addition is correct, that’s fifteen kids, which included two sets of twins.)
He was born in Ness City, Kansas, near the family farm at Bazine. Life was hard during the depression and dust bowl era. All members of the family worked on the farm where a lifelong work ethic began. One of Richard’s earliest chores was hauling cans of water from the well in his little wagon to the turkey pen across the road. He was about four or five years old.
In time, Fred & Lizzie moved much of their clan to Missouri, settling between Marshfield and Seymour along Hi-way C, in 1937. Family legend is that Fred Erb’s Farmall F-30 tractor was the first seen in Webster County. Richard’s older brothers stayed with the family’s Kansas farm and continued to grow wheat. During harvest time, Richard and his dad would return to Kansas, bringing workers from Missouri to help with the harvest.
The Missouri farm was near the High Prairie Store, owned by Ernest & Inez Clift, who had a daughter, Mildred. Still, Richard and Mildred did not meet until years later, after Mildred was out of high school. They would eventually marry in 1954.
About 1943, Richard sold his prized possession, an Indian motorcycle. He used the money to get his first barbershop haircut and a bus ticket to Wichita. He planned to work in the aircraft industry in support of the war effort. He was quite a sight at the local barbershop, having never been in one before. He got the works, and he sensed the barbers didn’t think he had any money. When Richard pulled out a $20 bill to pay, the barbers were wide-eyed and without enough money to make change. They sent him on his way with a fresh haircut and the $20 still in his pocket.
Richard worked two full-time jobs in Wichita, one with Boeing, as a B-29 riveter, another with a company that supplied aircraft parts. At times he would go to work with his name tag from the wrong employer, only to have to change it when passing through security. It was hard work, but Richard already knew hard work.
Saving his money, Richard left Wichita as the war effort was coming to close. Before returning to the family farm, he stopped at the barber shop. With smaller bills in hand, the haircut he received two years earlier was paid for. His savings from his days in Wichita would be the down payment for the farm he would buy in 1947. He would live there for the next 74 years.
He milked for a time, which was his second least favorite occupation. His least favorite, was being drafted at the age of 28 and sent to Korea by the US Army. Perhaps his greatest skill as a soldier was as a checker player. Private Erb would occasionally let the mess sergeant win a game of checkers, knowing that the mess sergeant always had the best food. Losing a game was ok with Richard, if the consolation prize was a can of peaches. Naturally, Richard shared his reward with his fellow soldiers.
After Korea, Richard & Mildred settled in a small house he built on the farm. He resumed his second least favorite occupation for several years, but eventually he stopped milking cows. He found beef cattle and tinkering with old tractors more to his liking. He loved a good farm auction. For years he was well known by auctioneers & fellow auction goers as Little Richard, or “00” (his permanent auction number). He also somehow found time to sell insurance for Farmers Mutual Windstorm Insurance Company.
Richard & Mildred were joined at the farm by Cheryl (’57) and John (’70).
His love of auctions, tractors and old farm equipment grew into his business, Erb Tractor Salvage. It started in a field on the back of the farm. As the business grew, it seemed to grow closer & closer to the house. On occasion Mildred, Cheryl or John might show a little frustration with Richard’s business. They would refer to the ‘junk’ getting too close to the house. Never angry at the reference, Richard would smile and correct them. It wasn’t junk. Those were “articles” or “treasures”.
Richard was active in the NFO for several years. He would fight for better prices and markets for independent farm operators. When milk & cattle prices were down and feed prices were up, Richard was not shy in telling anyone what he thought about it.
Richard loved animals & nature. Many of his cows became like pets, some more gentle than the dog he’d have watching over his articles & treasures. This love was not universal. It specifically did not extend to ground hogs and thistles.
Richard was proudly a devoted Christian and nearly a life-time member of the Liberty Church. Still, his heart was open and accepting of all faiths, beliefs, races, creeds and nationalities. Richard accepted and tolerated other peoples’ life-styles without feeling his own was threatened.
Richard is survived by Mildred, John, Cheryl, and Lauren & Neil Robinson, his grandchildren. All his brothers have passed away, as well as five of his sisters. Richard would also like to acknowledge his surviving sisters, nephews, nieces, cousins, friends, neighbors and many customers. He would like to have listed all your names here, making this look like a phone book for a small city. Of course, Richard didn’t write this in advance.
That said: You know who you are, and so did Richard.
Funeral services will be at 1:00 p.m. Saturday, April 10, 2021 at Fraker Funeral Home, Inc., with interment following in Marshfield Cemetery. Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. Friday in the funeral home.
For those desiring, memorials may be made to the Marshfield Senior Center or Liberty Freewill Baptist Church, and may be left with the funeral home.
For the safety of the family and their guests, please wear masks and practice social distancing at the visitation and funeral services.