Warren Deane Meeks, 84 of Burwell, Nebraska died August, 19, 2022 at the Valley County Hospital in Ord, Nebraska.
Funeral services will be at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, August 23, 2022 at the Burwell Baptist Church in Burwell, Nebraska. The burial will be the Taylor Cemetery in Taylor. Pastor Joel Wentworth will officiate. Visitation will be Monday from 5 to 7 pm at the Hitchcock Funeral Home in Burwell. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to 4 the Cure.
Warren was born October 31, 1937 in Tucumcari, New Mexico to Alfred and Mildred (Brown) Meeks. He graduated from Texline Texas High School in 1956. He went to West Texas State College in Canyon, Texas for one year.
Warren married Johnnie Nix on May 31, 1959 in Texline, Texas. The couple moved to Upstream Ranch, north of Taylor, Nebraska after marrying. In 1965, they moved and started their own ranch. Their ranch focused mainly on a yearling cattle operation. Later on, Warren designed and built a feedyard. After a lot of research, Warren designed the feedyard to have a pivot of corn on one end and an alfalfa crop on the other with the feedlot in the middle. In 1982, Warren and Johnnie sold their ranch and moved to Sturgis, SD to retire and “see how the other half lived”. In 1999, they moved to Black Hawk, South Dakota, which is right outside of Rapid City. In the fall of 2008, they moved back to Nebraska to move closer to family and built a home in Burwell.
Warren had a very analytical and mechanical mind. As a young boy, he enjoyed taking his mother’s clocks and radios apart and putting them back together just to see how they worked. As he grew up, his interests turned to motors and cars. He became a true gearhead and loved to go fast, which made a wonderful combo. He enjoyed a huge collection of Hotrod Magazines which became a great source of his mechanical education. He enjoyed building and racing cars. His first race car was a 1931 roadster that he made out of Model A. The first time out with this car, Warren and Johnnie drove it to Burwell to the movies. Johnnie had to hold on to the fender all the way home because it was falling off. Warren later built two more race cars. He went to many competitions and won many trophies in Nebraska and neighboring states.
Warren later developed an interest in flying. He took flying lessons from Charlie Zangger at the Burwell Airport. He proudly earned his instrument rating. His first airplane was a Stetson, then a Mooney, and later a Beechcraft Bonanza. Weekly, he flew his pastures to check windmills and cattle on his ranch. He also flew to get parts for the ranch all over the country. He flew to Hereford, Texas often to check on his cattle he had there on wheat fields. Many times, he flew to El Paso, Texas to buy cattle. He enjoyed flying his family and friends to Canada fishing and many other trips around the United States. Warren and Johnnie joined the Nebraska Flying Farmers and Ranchers and met many friends and flew many places with that organization. Deane and Selena always had many stories to share at school about where they had visited and the history of the places.
When Warren and Johnnie moved to South Dakota, the Bonanza airplane was sold and they bought their first motor home. He wanted to travel around and “see the world from the ground up”. He ended up buying seven other motor homes through the years. They traveled through almost every state, including Alaska and much of Canada, in later years, they became snowbirds and would travel south during the winter and spent time in California, Arizona, Texas, and Florida.
Warren and Johnnie had traveled to South Dakota snowmobiling while they lived in Nebraska and loved the area so much. This was the reason they retired there. The winter time was spent snowmobiling. He turned his love for motors and speed into fixing up snowmobiles for Selena and Deane to drag race while they were young. They raced on grass and snow and they all enjoyed every second. Warren and Johnnie also went on many trips snowmobiling with family and friends to the Big Horns, Snowy Range, and Yellowstone.
Fishing was one of Warren’s favorite hobbies through the years, especially when the fish were biting. He owned a few boats and always enjoyed a good fishing trip. He loved to waterski and was very good at it. All of his family learned how to do this too. His last time water skiing was when he was 70 years old, and that was on one ski also!
For his 80th birthday, he bought himself a red Corvette, which was something he had always wanted. He loved to tinker on it, of course, working on that motor for more horsepower, and more speed. Warren and Johnnie took 3 trips in it with a favorite Texas cousin which they enjoyed very much. They loved taking the Corvette on a Sunday drive to the Calamus Lake and to Husker Marine for a favorite chocolate and vanilla ice cream cone.
Warren taught everyone who knew him what true strength and determination meant. He beat cancer four times and other health issues. He walked 3 miles a day around the park every day no matter the weather. His faith was very important to Warren and he enjoyed his church family. He was a wonderful role model who taught his family about the importance of hard work, honesty, and the value of family.
Warren is survived by his wife, Johnnie Meeks of Burwell, Nebraska, two children, Deane and Kristi Meeks of Taylor, Nebraska and Selena and Chris Meckel of Burwell, Nebraska, seven grandchildren, and five great grandchildren, Hannah Meeks, Alex and Jayden Meeks and their daughter Hazel, JD Meeks, Daric and Brittany Manchester and their children, Aiden, Trystyn, Vayda, and Kapri, Skyler Sorensen, Kyle Sorensen, and Violet Meckel.
Warren was preceded in death by his parents, an infant son, Shepard Warren, an infant daughter, Cynthia Sue, an infant grandson, John Russell, and a brother, Ferrall Meeks.
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