Ercell Charles Arney

He is preceded in death, by only two months, his life’s love, Jill. The movie “The Notebook” pales in comparison to their story.

When he was a boy of 8 or 9 his parents Charlie Arney and Betty Arney built a new house way out south in Kansas City, 80th and Jarboe. Ercell, and his sister, Julia Mae, attended Ruhl Hartman School, where Ercell graduated in 1940 even as the dark cloud thundered in Europe. His high school yearbook said his nickname was “Slick,” something the grandkids wanted further explanation about. Ercell continued with his studies at William Jewell College for two and half years. And then war.

Staff Sgt. Arney was in pilot training when the need for B17 crews became demanding and he was quickly trained as a bombardier. Shipped to the European Theater, his bomb squadron flew out of Italy on missions to Austria.

On his 31st mission, April 25, 1944, four flights before a furlough, his flying fortress, named “Old Folks” was struck in the left wing by flack, a piece of which hit Ercell hard on the shoulder; his flack jacket saving his life. As the plane careened from its 20,000 foot flight path, Ercell jumped with the rest of the crew, parachuting into a wooded area of Austria where he was shortly captured and sent to Markt Pongau Concentration Camp near Lentz, where he was fortunately liberated four weeks later.

Back home, Jill Davidson and Charlie and Betty Arney were left with the dark hollow of a terse telegram that read,

“Mr. and Mrs. C.O. Arney: We regret to inform you that, your son, Staff Sergeant Ercell C. Arney was shot down over enemy territory.Further information will be passed when it is received.”

A letter followed, giving instructions on how his personal effects could be claimed. His parents and his girlfriend cried.

But then, a new telegram:

“All is well. Love, Ercell”

In the preceding years of his military service, his wife to be, Jill, wrote him letters as part of a church program that had young ladies sending mail to serviceman. It was a win/win match made in heaven for the young couple. And Ercell’s stint in the POW camp allowed him to get home a few weeks earlier than the other soldiers. Love was born, a marriage formed, and then followed three children: Donald, Nina, and Chuck.

Ercell was a lumberman, working for A.O. Thompson, and then in the 1950’s he went with a new company, Albert Tamm Lumber. After a lightning strike in August of 1962 led to the business failing, Ercell took the initiative to form a new corporation, finding investors and officers, and Tamm Lumber soon had its red hats and slogan “Tamm Good Lumber” known through the city (much to the chagrin of his mother).

Ercell eventually became primary owner and president of the company. As a businessman he was simply himself. He was a salesman but never pushy. He was a leader but never a demagogue. He was a handshake and not a contract. He ran a company that didn’t need policies, he just treated people as if the Golden Rule was something he lived by. “Do unto others . . .” He liked living simply and in fact was going to be buried in a pine box until someone convinced him that people would think his children didn’t care for him.

Ercell and Jill, Jill and Ercell, together in life, then in death, and now in life, and always in us.

In January of 1957 Ercell and Jill began going to the Swope Park Baptist Church. There they invested themselves in the service of Christ. He became a deacon, a Sunday School teacher, a perennial fixture on the Finance Committee, but really all that was just a way of him being around the people he loved and sharing life together around a faith that saw him through a depression, a war, and three kids.

In 1958 Charlie Arney bought a double lot at the Lake of the Ozarks and Ercell, his brother-in-law, Waller Curtis, along with Charlie, built “The Cabin.” The Cabin became a retreat for family and friends till this day. Children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, youth groups, church groups, and relatives have enjoyed Arney hospitality.

As much as anything Ercell was a builder. He built two houses and a cabin, two boats, and countless sheds, pieces of furniture, tool boxes, cabinets, and docks. And Ercell built a business, a family, a faith, and this great, great love with Jill. For seven decades they were married, serving each other, working together, playing together, worshipping together, and now, dying together.

His love with Jill, included over 70 years of marriage, and the delight of sharing life with their grandchildren Dawn Marie Arney Moore, Heather Marie Arney, Jeffrey M. Reed, Blake Charles Arney, and Connor Nathan Arney. In these past years it was his delight to add to the walls of pictures in his home, and then apartment, the smiling faces of his great grandchildren, Kai, Maya, and Layla.

Ercell and Jill, they held hands, always, to the end of their days.

Visitation will be from 10:00-11:00 a.m. followed by funeral service at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, August 17th, at Grace Point Baptist Church, 10415 Chestnut Drive, Kansas City, Missouri. Burial will be in Mount Moriah Cemetery, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri. Memorial contributions may be made to Hillcrest Transitional Housing, 738 N. 31st Street, Kansas City, Kansas 66102.

Arrangements under the direction of Mt Moriah, Newcomer & Freeman Funeral Home, Kansas City, MO.