George Edward "Jim" and Phyllis Carol (Welker) West

George Edward (Jim) West, at the age of 90 years old, of Olathe, KS, died on October 26, 2020, in Shawnee, Kansas. His widow, Phyllis Carol (Welker) West, at the age of 85, of Overland Park, KS died on July 14, 2022.

He was born on February 11, 1930, in Carmi, Illinois, and was the only child of Delbert (Jimmy) Ray, and Ada Belle (Henson) Ray. She was born on January 27, 1937, in Elkhart, IL, and was the daughter of John A., and Edna (Patterson) Welker.

George attended public schools in Chicago, graduating from Lane Technical High School in 1948. He changed his name to that of his stepfather Willard Webb West in 1945. George served in the U.S. Navy, as an aviation electrician, and instrument specialist during the Berlin airlift, and Korean War from 1948 to 1952. He was assigned to the Air Transport Squadron VR3. His final duty station was at Moffet Field in Sunnyvale, CA. Upon his honorable discharge, George went to work for Illinois Commercial Telephone Company, which later became the General Telephone Company (GTE), then transitioned to Verizon. He began his career as a telephone installer and ended his career in December of 1988 as the Project Manager for SIU in Carbondale, IL. George held positions of equipment installer, Eastern and Southern Division Equipment Supervisor, Division Traffic Manager in Jacksonville, IL and Marion, IL, District Plant Supervisor, and Switching Services Supervisor in Bloomington, IL, and finally, the Head Project Coordinator at SIU, Carbondale, IL. He served the telephone communications industry for 36 years.

On June 30, 1957, he married Phyllis Carol Welker of Springfield, IL, and they had 2 sons, Jeff who resides in Springfield, IL, and Jim, who resides in Olathe, Kansas with his wife Deborah, and his 2 sons, Jacob, and Michael.

Phyllis attended Oak Hill grade school and graduated from Riverton, IL High School in 1955. Right after graduation, she went to work as a secretary for the General Telephone Company of Illinois for 3 years. Phyllis became a stay-at-home mom from 1958 until 1977, raising their two sons, Jeff, and Jim. She then, went back to work for General Telephone, known then as GTE. Phyllis held the position of Executive Secretary to the Southern Division Manager, Loren D. Carter, at Marion, IL until 1990 when she retired. At that time, she and George moved to Albuquerque, NM where they lived for 10 years before moving to Wellton, AZ, where they lived for 5 years. They then moved to Olathe, KS, where they lived for 10 years.

Preceding them in death are his father, Delbert Ray; his mother, Ada Belle (Henson) West; his stepfather, Willard (Slim) West, and his half-sisters, Phyllis (Ray) Clark of McLeansboro, IL, and Barbary (Ray) Collinson of Belle, IL.

They are also survived by her two brothers, John Welker of Springfield, IL, and Dennis Welker and his wife, Nancy, now residing in Colorado. She also has 2 nephews, 1 niece, and 2 great-nephews.

Their memorial gathering will be held on Saturday, August 13, 2022, at Butler Funeral Home- Springfield from 9:00 a.m. until 10:45 a.m. A memorial ceremony will follow at 11:00 a.m. Burial will follow at Roselawn Memorial Park.