Obituary

Howard Earl Bechtel, 72, died December 19, 2007 at Via Christi Regional Medical Center, St. Francis Campus, Wichita. He was born November 20,. 1935 at Deer Creek, Oklahoma, son of Harold and Esther Kuehny Bechtel. A resident of Sedgwick, he had been a middle school teacher until retiring after 27 years and then worked for Boeing as an engineer.

He belonged to Sedgwick Christian Church; Sedgwick Citygovernment, serving as city councilman and mayor; and served on the Sedgwick School Board as president.


On July 30, 1980 he married Sue Nickerson Eakin in Sedgwick. She survives. Other survivors: son, Todd, Overland Park; daughter, Darla Pearcy, Augusta; stepson, Brock Eakin, Eufala; stepdaughter, Tabby Deterrich, Sedgwick; two sisters, Elaine Claassen, Whitewater and Wanda Ratzlaff, Newton and 11 grandchildren.

Funeral will be Saturday at the Church with Pastor Kim Beckwith presiding. Burial will be in Hillside Cemetery, Sedgwick.