Gail O. Payne, 76, of Ericson passed away on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at CHI Good Samaritan Health System in Kearney.
Funeral Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 26, 2022, at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Chambers, Nebraska. Reverend Jon Franson will officiate. Burial will be in the Bartlett Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Ord Memorial Chapel. In lieu of flowers memorials are suggested to the Family’s Choice to be designated at a later date. Ord Memorial Chapel is in charge of arrangements.
Gail Owen was born October 10, 1945, at Spalding, Nebraska to Gerald and Julia (Sanford) Payne. He was raised on the family farm and ranch near Ericson, Nebraska. Gail attended grade school at rural Ericson and high school at Ericson-Bartlett graduating in 1963.
He furthered his education at Kearney State College to study drafting and play football; making many great memories during his time as a Loper. One of his favorites was having a freshman football teammate who went on to play 15 years in the National Football League. Gail continued to attend Loper sporting events until his death and watched his three children, as well as his mother, earn degrees from Kearney State College/University of Nebraska at Kearney.
After college, Gail returned home and married his sweetheart, Marie Hoerle on February 12, 1966 at Chambers, Nebraska. The couple made their home on the family farm and ranch where he lived and worked until 2022. Gail loved working outside and “playing in the dirt”. He spent many years raising corn, beans, alfalfa, milo, oats, prairie hay, cattle, hogs, elk, chickens, goats, turkeys, ducks, geese, and horses. During that time, he operated a dairy farm, worked with his great friend, Ron at Gillham Irrigation, and was part owner with his brother, Richard in an Oliver dealership at Grand Island. From 2004 to 2022, he worked for the Wheeler County Road Department as the Highway Superintendent, Truck Driver, and Machine Operator. He loved finishing the day by telling Marie about all the wildlife he saw that day on the road.
Gail was a member of First United Methodist church in Ericson, Wheeler Central High School Board, and Elk’s Lodge of Ord.
Gail was a hunter, trapper, and avid fisherman. Hunting and fishing trips to Alaska, Idaho, and Canada were most often discussed. He loved motorsports, including riding motorcycles, snow mobiles, and ATV’s/UTV’s. Gail helped his brother, Richard with tractor pulling and his brothers-in-law, Ron and Jim Hoerle with stock car racing. His fondest memories were winning a stock tractor pull class at an Ord tractor pull with his Minneapolis Moline Vista G1000 and a mechanics stock car race at Sargent. Ultimately this love of motorsports resulted in every piece of farm equipment and vehicle being modified/hot rodded to some extent. A couple of his favorite projects being the conversion of an Oliver 1755 tractor to 1955 spec. and the installation of a Hercules diesel engine into a 1970’s pickup before factory diesel pickups were commercially available.
Gail played competitive fast pitch/slow pitch softball and basketball into his mid 40’s when he switched to golf and bowling. Many championships were collected and once in high school before track event participation limits scored enough individual points to win the meet on his own. Gail was also a fan of many different sports often following individual players that he identified with rather than teams. In the mid 70’s, Gail earned his single engine rating pilot’s license and flew often to include flying local cowboys to weekend rodeos in Nebraska, South Dakota, and Iowa.
Gail also enjoyed picking wildflowers for Marie, bird watching, wood working, metal fabrication, shell loading, leather tooling, and finding solutions to fix anything and everything. The stack of media next to his favorite chair was full of pilot, mechanic, and outdoor magazines along with many books about hunting Africa by Peter Capstick. In recent years he discovered YouTube and loved watching videos about how things are made as well as old westerns.
Gail lived a very full life with many accomplishments and activities. However, the most important thing to Gail was always his family. He loved his wife, children, and grandchildren fiercely. He would speak with great pride to anyone that asked about his family, what they were up to, and their accomplishments. He loved spending time with them and was liberal with his application of big bear hugs.
Gail Owen Payne left a positive and indelible mark on the souls of those around him. He was honest, genuine, and caring. Gail was a calm spirited, gentle God-fearing man, who truly believed anything was possible. He will be greatly missed by his family and those fortunate enough to know him.
Survivors include his wife of 56 years, Marie of Ericson; a daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Kevin Needham of Bennington; two sons and daughters-in-law, Jason and Kim Payne of Kearney and Gavin and Brandi Payne of Grand Island; and six grandchildren, Trevor, Emma, Austin, Owen, Ellison and Paisyn.
He was preceded in death by his parents; four brothers, Don, Dick, Edwin and Gary Payne and granddaughter, Kali Payne.
Comments