Brian Obr

December 16, 1959 – February 25, 2016. The memorial service honoring the life of Brian Obr will be held at 3:00 pm, Wednesday March 2, 2016 at Pathway Christian Church, 2001 N. Maize Rd. Brian was born December 16, 1959 to Darlene and Joseph Obr in Brookings, SD. He graduated from Valley High School in West Des Moines, Iowa in 1978 and then went on to earn his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Iowa in 1982. He married Lauren Denise Pope in November of 1989 in Wichita, KS. They had two boys Joseph Ryan and Nathaniel Lee. Brian began his career with Fred Spitz and Associates, a civil engineering consulting firm in Oklahoma City and worked there until 1988. He subsequently moved to Wichita to start working at Vulcan Chemicals as a project engineer and in 1991 he transferred to become an environmental health superintendent. Additionally, while in Wichita, he earned his MBA from Wichita State University. He was promoted to production superintendent in 1999 and served in that capacity until 2008 when he moved the family to Baton Rouge, LA. Occidental Chemical Corporation promoted him to Production and Technical manager for their plant in Convent, LA. He returned once again to Wichita in 2011 as the Operations Manager for Occidental Chemical Corporation. Brian’s passions centered around athletics and the outdoors. He coached the boys’ soccer teams when they were young and was an avid soccer fan. He always enjoyed playing or watching a game of basketball. He took up bicycling and rode in several 100 mile-long rides. He loved to camp and snow ski, especially the back bowls of Vail. He is survived by Denise, his wife of 26 years, two sons Joe and Nate, mother, Darlene and sister, Sheri Obr, mother-in-law Barbara Pope, sister- and brother-in-law Darla and Keith Smith and niece, Lauren Neundorf. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, http://www.pcf.org or Victory in the Valley, www.victoryinthevalley.org.