Ebling "Ej" Nowotny Obituary (1928

Funeral Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday, March 7, 2022, at the Milford United Methodist with Rev. Angela DeFisher officiating. Interment is in Blue Mound Cemetery, Milford, with military services. Visitation will be Sunday from 2-6:00 p.m., at Lauber Funeral Home with family receiving relatives and friends from 4-6:00 p.m. and also 1 hour prior to services at church on Monday. Memorials have been established to the Friends of the Senior Center or to the United Methodist Church, both of Milford. For those unable to attend the service for EJ, you can log on to the funeral home's facebook page @ Lauber Funeral and Cremation Services just prior to the beginning of the funeral. A luncheon will be provided in the church basement following the graveside service. Ebling John "EJ" Nowotny was born on January 6, 1928, on a ranch northeast of Johnson City, Texas to parents Elbert and Vona Nowotny and passed away on Friday, March 4, 2022, at Tabatha at Williamsburg in Lincoln at the age of 94. He grew up helping his father in the ranching operations until his 18th birthday. He graduated from Johnson City High School in 1945. In 1946, he was quickly drafted into the US Army, becoming the last man drafted from Blanco County, Texas in the World War II conflict. Because of a disability injury, he was honorably discharged in 1947. EJ took a two-year training course in his uncle's taxidermy shop. Soon after his discharge, he took a job on a larger ranch in Blanco County, Texas, owned by the famous movie star, Jimmy Stewart. Since the ranch owner also had other ranching interests in South Dakota and Nevada, EJ moved to the ranch near Fort Pierre, South Dakota in 1952. In the spring of 1953, he met Marquerite "Trudy" Storey, and they were married July 18, 1953, in Pierre, SD. To this union were born six children. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to a ranch north of Wells, Nevada. Because of his wife's sudden illness, and the extreme isolation they moved to a ranch near San Antonio, TX. With a growing family and mounting expenses, they moved into San Antonio in 1957 and EJ took up a new profession with a commercial printing company. He moved his family to Helotes, TX, outside of San Antonio, in 1964. Then in 1973, he moved his family to Seward County, Nebraska. He was blessed with another marriage to Kathleen Putnam on June 10, 1977, in Milford. After retiring from his job at Nebraska Litho Printing in Lincoln in 1998, he and Kathy had more time to spend with their antique business which lasted until 2005. He was a member of the Milford United Methodist Church, American Legion Post #171, Lincoln DAV and served on the Woods Charitable Foundation for a period of time. Survivors include his wife, Kathleen, Milford, children and spouses, Michael and Velda Nowotny, Blue Springs, MO, Deborah Roth, Cheyenne, WY, Cynthia and Newton Zimmerman, Lincoln, Becky Braun, Chicago, IL, Tamatha and Tim Kaplan, Omaha, Russell and Amy Nowotny, Brainard, NE, step children, Andrew Putnam, Milford, Jennifer and Brad Erickson, Baltimore, MD, 16 grandchildren, two step grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren, sisters, Helen Jones, Rock Springs, TX and Joann Finch and her husband, Roy, Blanco, TX, several nieces, nephews and a host of other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents, and his two sisters and their husbands, Barbara and John Mortimer and Joyce Dean and Fred Armke, a brother-in-law, Milton "Hog" Jones.