August 20, 1947 – July 31, 2026
Orville “Butch” Thurman Gambrel, Jr., 78, Edgerton, Kansas passed away Friday, July 31, 2026 at Health Care Resort, Olathe, Kansas. Celebration of Life will be 2:00 p.m. Friday, August 14, 2026 at Bruce Funeral Home, 106 S. Center, Gardner, Kansas. Memorial contributions may be given to the Shriners Hospitals for Children. Condolences may be left at www.brucefuneralhome.com
Butch was born in Altus , Arkansas on August 20,1947 to Orville Thurman Gambrel, Sr. and Lois Caryleen (Burns) Gambrel. He was born with cerebral palsy, weighing 2.8 pounds. Butch could fit in the palm of his father’s hand, but overcame every obstacle thrown at him. He worked as a Deputy Sheriff in Labette County before he began working at Deluxe Check Printers as a custodian. On September 1, 1979 in Parsons, Kansas, Butch married Linda Marie Rice. They lived outside of Edgerton, Kansas for 30 years. Butch enjoyed the outdoors, specially fishing and boating. He loved to be on a boat! He also enjoyed hunting prairie dogs and hogs. He liked reloading and loved to make his own bullets, being very passionate about it. Butch tinkered on vehicles in his shop, which was his pride and joy. He loved to feed his goldfish dogfood from a rusty old can from a trash can. His trigger finger kept the birds away from the pond. He enjoyed swimming and swam like a fish without fins. Butch was an amazing storyteller and didn’t know a stranger. He was a “jack of all trades” with nothing he couldn’t do or wouldn’t try and succeed to some extent. He was gruff, however had a soft spot. Butch made calls each day, when he was able, to loved ones as he drank his morning coffee. Butch cherished his coffee, sweet tea, oatmeal, ice cream and raw onions. He will be remembered as silly, yet emotional; a kind of emotional you never felt uncomfortable around. Butch loved yellow calling it “yella”, collected marbles and wound his grandfather’s clock religiously. He took pride in maintaining his yard. Butch liked watching westerns and could have been a director; always critiquing tv and movies. He liked his guns and was a life member of NRA. Butch enjoyed attending gun shows; traveling to take part in them.
Butch is preceded in death by his father Orville, Sr. brother Robert “Donny” Gambrel; sister Lois Ann McIlvain; paternal grandparents Elmer Benton and Clarice Mamie (Turner) Gambrel and maternal grandparents Robert Scott and Rilla Chloe (Dixon) Burns. He is survived by his wife Linda Gambrel, Edgerton, Kansas; mother Lois Caryleen Grambrel, Van Buren, Arkansas; children: Travis Donavon Gambrel (Suzie Brooks), Gardner, Kansas, Robbi Jean Ball (Robert), Palm Coast, Florida and Jared Scott Gambrel, Edgerton, Kansas; sister Betty C. Scaletty; grandchildren Brooke Ashlen Gambrel and Cody Allen Johnson; great-grandchildren: Cael Johnson, Callie Johnson and Chloe Johnson and special friend Michael Farran (Shirley), Nevada, Missouri.
Obituary published by Bruce Funeral Home.
