George Edward Onasch

George Edward Onasch was welcomed into his eternal Heavenly home on April 24th, 2022 at 8:00 am. He had fought a long battle with complications from diabetes and congestive heart failure. He would have counted himself the victor in that he never let his illness force him to give up eating the foods he loved.

George was born in Kansas City, Kansas on September 8th, 1949 to Henry and Rose Ellen Onasch. He was their third born, second son after older brother Henry Charles and older sister Mary Ellen and would later become an older brother himself to John Frederick. He would always share treasured childhood memories of growing up in Quindaro and all of his death-defying tales of near misses with the crazy stunts they pulled trying to "one up" each other.

Due to being diagnosed with a lazy eye in the early 50's, George's family was one the the first ones in their neighborhood to get a TV, and so began his love of Westerns, cowboy justice, and "making your place in the world in a cold, uncaring, lawless land." It was what influenced his decision to buy a 40 acre farm out in Leavenworth county and attempt to tame its wild, overgrown nature in the 70's.

When he was unable to unlist into the military service like the rest of his siblings due to his lazy eye and flat feet, George took a job at a grocery store Food Barn in 1969 after completing High School at Wyandotte in 1968. It was a family legacy of sorts in that George's father was a butcher by trade and George was apprenticing to be a meat cutter, and he continued to be a proud member of the Meat Cutter's Union and United Food and Commercial Workers' Union District Local 2 for his entire life.

In late 1974, George met Elaine Marie Beckmann through his younger brother Johnny and they both agreed in their decision to get married and start a family, so less than a year after their courtship began,the two wed on October 5th, 1975 at Shawnee Methodist Church. Fourteen months later, they welcomed their first and only boy into the family on December 30th, 1976, with their first baby girl following on December 20th, 1979, and a sweet sister fulfilling their family of five on May 11th, 1982. The family grew in love for the next few decades. In 1992, Food Barn closed and George filled the next couple of decades continuing mostly in similar warehouse work at Payless shoes, IBT, Ace Personnel, and KC Abrasive. He even did a stint as a school janitor at Pleasant Ridge High School much to the chagrin of his two daughters who still attended the school at the time.

After the kids were grown and his parents passed on, George got back into going to church and soon became a Lay Speaker and a leader in the Men's Group at Jarbalo United Methodist Church. His daughters and wife soon followed. His son had been attending another church at this time, but he switched over a bit later and the Onasches attended as a family for the next 15 years participating in many church activities, fundraisers, and even got to go on two mission trips to South Dakota and Oklahoma. George loved to share his stories of his walk of faith throughout his life. Having his revival of his faith life was what helped him deal with the struggles that followed later.

In 2006, he went into semi-retirement as a security guard at the Woodlands, where he worked until he broke his leg walking his rounds of the property and his diabetes kept the break from healing and it had to be amputated. He found the strength to keep going through that difficult ordeal with the love and encouragement of his wife and kids by his side, and remained active with church activities and family time. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Elaine of September 11, 2019. His parents Henry and Rose, as well as his three siblings Henry, Mary, and Johnny also all preceded him in death. He leaves behind his son Brian Edward Onasch, a daughter-in-law Caitlin (Moore) Onasch, and his two daughters Heidi Lynn and Gretchen Elaine Onasch as well as several beloved cousins and friends who will cherish and remember George as a "storyteller" -sometimes the events weren't told in the same way others might remember it happening, but everyone agreed the way he told the stories sure were "interesting"

In lieu of flowers, contributions in George's memory may be made to American Diabetes Organization, https://diabetes.org.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.chapelhill-butler.com for the ONASCH family.