Curtis Lee Eicher, 86, of Colby, died Saturday, June 5, 2021, at
Citizens Medical Center. He was born March 7, 1935, on a farm north of
Brewster to Harry and Lois (McArthur) Eicher. He attended the Prairie
Gem School, and at 6 years old, he drove a pickup to school each morning
containing the school’s water supply. He graduated from Brewster High
School, where he drove the school bus starting his sophomore year.
He followed his older sister to the University of Colorado in Boulder,
but after a semester he was homesick and returned to Kansas. That fall,
he joined the U.S. Army before being drafted and served two years at a
base in Gary, Ind. After completing his service, he returned to Kansas
State University, where he flunked ballroom dancing, but somehow
convinced someone to substitute welding for an English requirement so
that he could be awarded a bachelor’s degree in feed technology with an
administration option.
On Aug. 16, 1959, he married Beverly Sims. They returned to live on the
farm in a house near his parents. He was elected to the Brewster School
Board and was appointed to the board of the Goodland vocational
technical school.
He had planned to spend his life farming with his father but driving the
tractor aggravated a previous back injury. After surgery, he looked for
a less physically demanding career and wound up with a job interview
for a position as bank examiner for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
When he told the interviewer he had a background in agriculture and
wanted to live and work in Northwest Kansas, he was hired on the spot.
He considered bankers among the smartest people he knew, but he worked
for FDIC during a 30-year period when many banks had to be closed. He
spent his weeks traveling with fellow examiners, often eating tamales or
other delicacies straight out of the can. On weekends, he returned home
to Colby, where the world’s best cook awaited.
After his retirement, he became a master gardener and an excellent cook
himself. He was known to his grandchildren as HoHo and never failed to
please them with his chicken enchiladas.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Kenneth Eicher; and
three sisters, Lillian Buckner, Edith Taylor and Esther Eicher.
He is survived by his wife, Beverly, of the home; a son, Eric Eicher, of
Colby; a daughter, Erin (Randy) Mathews, of Colby; and grandchildren
Sabrina and Lear Eicher and their mother, Vanessa, and Brady, Graham and
Reece Mathews.
A celebration of life service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June
14, at the Colby United Methodist Church. Memorials are suggested to the
Prairie Museum of Art and History or Kansas State University, in care
of Baalmann Mortuary, PO Box 391, Colby, KS 67701. For information and
online condolences visit www.baalmannmortuary.com