Steven "Steve" Ray Dobbs

Steve Dobbs, 63, of Topeka, Kansas, passed away February 1, 2019. Funeral services will be 11:00 am, Friday, February 8, 2019 at Chapel Hill – Butler Funeral Home, 701 N. 94th St., Kansas City, KS 66112. Entombment will follow in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens Mausoleum. Memorial contributions may be made to a charity of your choice, in memory of Steve.

Steve was born February 12, 1955 in Great Bend, Kansas to E. Wayne and Norma Lee Dobbs. He graduated from Great Bend High School and attended Barton County Community College. Steve graduated from The Kansas City Area Vocational-Technical School, where he learned his engineering technical skills. He worked for engineering firms in Kansas City and Topeka and retired in 2017 from CFS Engineers as a Senior Engineering Technician. Steve was a talented vocalist and guitarist and played in numerous weddings for friends and family. He was also very involved with his family and their activities.

Steve was preceded in death by his parents, Wayne and Norma Lee Dobbs, and his sister-in-law, Rhonda Renee Dobbs.

He is survived by his siblings, Karen Simpson and her husband William of Lawrence, KS, Gary Dobbs and his wife Rhonda of Spring, TX, Dallas Dobbs of Grand Lake, OK, and Kala Patterson and her husband Dennis of Lawrence, KS, as well as many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends, and his former wife, Becky Bullock Dobbs.

Fond memories and condolences for Steve may be left at www.chapelhill-butler.com, as arrangements are under the direction of Chapel Hill – Butler Funeral Home.

Reverend Abbey Walker’s Sermon Notes:

John 10:7-10 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

I heard it said once that we all write our own funerals. No truer statement could be made about the funeral we're all attending today. Steven Ray Dobbs lived a heck of a good life, one that was filled with what he valued most--love, family, friends, hard work a man could be proud of, and a good time. When I found out this past week that he had died, I was in a bit of shock that a man with such enthusiasm for life was gone. When he entered a room, he filled it with conversation, a story--often times the same stories which we all can now tell by heart, and song. He loved being with people and cherished each and every person who was part of his life.

As his niece, and one who lived close by for my whole childhood, I spent a lot of time with Uncle Steve and so following the phone call I got saying he'd died, I was flooded with an incredible list of memories. They consisted of everything from recent memories of our family reunions at Grand Lake to what feel like are ancient memories of him being us nieces' Christmas tree prop in our Christmas plays as little girls.

But in almost every memory, he is happy--happy being with family, cussing and discussing the topics of the day or life or politics or work, hearing about our lives, telling stories of his baseball days and "wild" years with pride, and above all, playing his guitar and singing. Almost everyone I've spoken to about Steve Dobbs since he died has mentioned his music first and foremost. His music was one of his greatest loves. He would sit and play at family and friend events until his fingers would blister and bleed, but no matter how bad they hurt, he'd get up the next day and play for hours again, purely because he loved it so much and knew we loved it too. And his repertoire was vast. He knew everything from Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley to Bread and Jimmy Buffett to Hank Williams, Jr., and even to songs of his own creative design.

He loved music and it filled his soul. But it didn't just fill *his* soul. His music and love for great music overflowed out of him onto all who heard him sing and play. His voice and his memory will haunt the tunes of many beloved songs for years to come. I know that for many of us, Love Me Tender, by Elvis Presley among others will always sound at least a little like Uncle Steve's voice.

Another story many people told, and he himself told many times, was of his baseball days. He loved playing baseball and loved the life that accompanied it. He loved being out with the guys having a good time and getting up to mischief. I know he is remembered for being a great pitcher and specifically for his witching ball. He was so proud of that time in his life, for the friends he had and for the fun they had together.

Steve was a man who did a lot and will be remembered for those things. However, I think he will be remembered most for who he was. He was always kind and gentle, really a big teddy bear. He loved to hug his family and there are no instances in which I remember seeing him and didn't receive a hug when I arrived and another when I left.

He cared that we were each there, wherever they may be, and wanted to hear about our lives. He cared what we were going through, how we were doing professionally, personally, with our families as we built them, with our friends and the things that made us happy. He cared deeply about our struggles and the ways in which the world felt hard. He was a wonderful conversationalist and listener and valued being part of people's lives.

I know this was something he didn't just do with family, either. He had life long friends he cared about and kept up with and he also made friends everywhere he went. Luckily, he *wasn't* shy and *was* talkative enough to know even perfect strangers pretty well by the time they parted ways.

We will also remember his humor. Often it was a little ornery, especially the way he would mimic his mother or do imitations and voices. Other times it was just good old fashioned teasing! He could tease almost anyone and meant it with love. To laugh was important to him and he found a lot of joy in these moments with people.

If we say nothing else about Steven Ray Dobbs, we can say that he lived an abundant life and lived it well. He lived into that very specific line about faith that Jesus teaches in this passage from John and understood that the true gift of the abundant life is a life lived in relationship with others.

It is a gift given to us through and demonstrated by Jesus Christ. Jesus came to give us life and the most abundant life possible and Uncle Steve lived into that life. He was gentle and kind. His heart was so good and his whole demeanor was other-centered in so many ways. He loved deeply, cherished his family, and was devoted to his friendships. He absolutely knew how to have a good time and had that ornery twinkle in his eye when he remembered a story he couldn't quite tell all the details of. He remembered everything from the birthdays of every family member to old addresses and phone numbers. He recently told his brother, Uncle Dallas, that he had no idea why he remembered those kinds of things so easily, but my guess is because they were important aspects about people he loved and there was nothíng more important to him in the whole world.

The age-old adage is that we know love because God loved us first. We have these relationships with one another and Uncle Steve had relationships with each of us because God through Jesus Christ taught us how. Rooted in the most foundational relationship there is--a deep love of God the Father, Son, and Spirit, we have life abundantly here on earth and again in heaven. We will all miss the love, laughter, gentleness, goodness, and music of this amazing man, but we know he is truly living now the most abundantly life of all. Thanks be to God for Steven Ray Dobbs. Amen.