Bilke, Wayne

died at 6:45 am Monday, May 1, 2000, at the Meadows Care Center, Joplin Missouri, after an illness. He was 78. Mr. Bilke was born Dec 28, 1921, in Ottawa County, to Lloyd Bilke and Blanch Burrows Bilke. He had lived in Grove Oklahoma since 1983, when he moved from Peoria Oklahoma. He was a farmer and worked for Eagle-Picher Mining Company in construction. He was a member of Grand Lake Baptist church, Grove, and a 55 year member of Ottawa Lodge No. 492 A.F. & A.M. he married Esther Graham on Nov 9, 1944, at Commerce Oklahoma. She survives of the home. Additional survivors include two sons, Don Bilke and his wife Annie Bilke, Baxter Springs Kansas, and Randy Bilke, Joplin Missouri; a brother, Len Bilke, Miami; a sister, Marjorie Sappington, Miami; and two grandchildren, Joe Bilke, Quapaw Oklahoma, and Lacy Freeman, Baxter Springs. He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Verl Bilke; and a granddaughter, Leslie Dawn Bilke. The service was Wednesday, at the Paul Thomas funeral home, Miami, with the Rev. Larry Moore officiating. The burial is in Seneca Missouri cemetery. Members of Ottawa Lodge No. 492 and Miami Lodge No. 140 served as pallbearers. Lee Edmondson served as an honorary pallbearer. Masonic rites were conducted by the lodge.