Local Celebrity Accepted as Apprentice to History’s Greatest Builder 

I apologize, but I just couldn’t resist writing the headline as “click-bait”.   

My name is Greg Truby and Phil Truby was my father.  I have lived in Kansas City for a little under thirty years now, and I have grown accustomed to the anonymity that comes with life in the “big city”.   If you go to a school function, a soccer game, a scouting event, or some other activity that involves your kids, lots of folks will know who you are.  But go to the grocery store, or the pharmacy, or a restaurant and it is unusual for anyone to greet you by name and ask about the family. 

You may recall that Dad mowed down a telephone pole and broke off a second one back in March of last year, totaling that big red Dodge Ram pickup of his.   I’d been trying to come see him for years, but he kept insisting he was “too busy” for company and would ask us not to come visit.  But after his accident, I told him that “busy” or not, I was coming down to see him. 

George Wendt, the actor who played Norm on Cheers, passed away three days before dad. And when I got to Anthony and we bustled around town running errands, I sometimes felt like I was walking into Cheers with Norm.   Everyone knew dad’s name and would give him a heartfelt greeting wherever we went in his hometown. 

Stopping by the bank to check his account balances?   “Good morning, Phil!  How’s Jan?”   

Having lunch at the Red Rooster in Harper?  Even the waitresses who weren’t waiting on our table would stop by and say “Good afternoon, Phil!  How’s Jan?” 

Dropping by the Idle Hour to have dinner?    People from at least half-a-dozen tables said hello and asked if he was okay after his accident.   

When Uncle Bob, my cousin Doug, Dad, and I popped into the Rexall’s Drugstore to enjoy a round of chocolate milkshakes, everyone behind the counter knew dad and greeted him warmly. 

We stopped by the Post Office and of course we ran into someone he knew from years ago and they had to catch up. 

Walking around Anthony with Phil Truby was indeed akin to walking into Cheers with Norm. 

On a shelf in my bookcase is a McGuffy’s Eclectic Reader with a copyright date of 1879.   Inside the back leaf of the book is written in pencil “Charles W. Truby, book bought the 7th of Sept 1881 at [someplace], Keota, Keokuk Co. Iowa.   Gone to Anthony, Kan on the 8th day of November 1886”.     He would have been about seventeen years of age in 1886. 

Charles Woodard (C.W.) Truby was my great-grandfather.  And, based on that inscription in his McGuffy Reader, he would have been one of Anthony’s 1,806 residents in the 1890 census.    

Uncle Bob tells the story that C.W. worked for Walter Treadwell, who owned a 1,200 acre ranch between Harper and Anthony.  Apparently, Mr. Treadwell thought enough of C.W. to gift him a mare that “was fast enough to get him in quick enough to get a good stake” in the Cherokee Strip land rush of 1893.   The story goes that during seven years of homesteading, local Mennonites kept wanting to buy his land.  Fed up with their nagging, he shot them a ridiculously high price.  They met it.  And so it was that C.W., his wife Emma and son George left the Oklahoma Territory and headed back to Anthony. 

In April of1905 my grandfather, Victor John Truby was born.   And according to Uncle Bob, C.W. is the man who built the large white house that you see in Anthony just to the east of N Sante Fe and to the north of E Spring Street.  Uncle Bob said that he can still remember cutting hay out of alfalfa fields where the Country Living retirement facility is now located. 

By the time the 1940 census rolled around, it would have marked five more Truby’s in Anthony:  Ruth, Victor’s wife whom he met at Friends University in Wichita; and their children, Nancy (1931), Robert (Nov 1933), DonaId (Nov 1934), and my father, Phillip, (Feb 1940). 

Victor and Ruth’s farm was about one mile north and a mile and a half east of town. Dad and his siblings grew up on that farm and dad graduated from high school in Anthony in 1958.   I’m told he was quite a good basketball and tennis player.  If the Anthony Alumni Association’s webpage is fairly up-to-date, then there are about ten members of the class of 1958 still living in Anthony whom you could ask if that’s accurate.  

While obtaining a bachelor’s degree from Emporia State University, dad came home a couple of summers to help grandpa on the farm.  And he also spent a couple of summers working for the Parks & Rec Commission in Hutchinson teaching tennis. 

That ESU teaching degree got dad his first job as a 7th and 8th grade teacher in Republic, Kansas in 1964.   There he fell in love with the 1st and 2nd grade teacher, one Charlotte Rahe (I call her mom). 

Dad and Mom were married in May of 1965 and both took teaching positions in Kansas City.   Dad taught biology and was an assistant coach for football and basketball at Southeast High School in Kansas City, Missouri. 

During that time, Dad joined the National Guard and did his basic training at Fort Leanord Wood, Missouri. 

While teaching, Dad was very active with Sing Out Heart of America (Up With People).  And he kept in touch with several members of the singing group over the years. 

Phil and Charlotte’s family grew quickly.   A son, Gregory Brent (yours truly) in January of 1966, and a daughter, Michelle Diane, on the 20th of February in 1968 (Dad’s 28th birthday, and — according to my father — the best birthday present he ever got). 

By 1969, Dad left teaching to pursue a career in sales.  Eventually accepting a sales position with Allis Chalmers.  Dad enjoyed selling ag equipment as it gave him a chance to visit with farmers, his favorite group of people. 

Selling ag equipment got dad out of Kansas City and back into a small town in Kansas.  This time it was Beloit.   We were living in Beloit when Dad and Mom filed for divorce in 1976.  Dad moved to Ellinwood (by Great Bend) and continued working in ag sales for a quite a few years, eventually living in Garden  City.   

In the mid-80's dad changed from selling agricultural equipment to selling insurance and eventually moved to Colorado Springs where he met Jan Turner, whom he married in August of1990.    

In 1997, Dad moved back to Anthony, bringing Jan, and Jan’s daughter, Jaime with him back to his hometown.   Dad set up a business selling trailers, though I’m not sure if that wasn’t just an excuse for him to drive all over the country because he loved driving.  

His first grandson, Gabriel Truby came along in July of 1996.   2001 brought him two more grandchildren: granddaughter, Ariana Truby in January; and his second grandson, Garrett Horton in May.   His third grandson, Tyler Horton, was born in March 2003. 

And now, back to my visit to see Dad after he took down those two utility poles last March. 

It soon became clear that the good people of Anthony, Kansas had been looking after my father and doing everything they could to make sure he and Jan were getting along okay.   But it was also very clear that despite the support of amazing people like Renee Gerber and Bobby Dry and others, Dad needed more help than friends and neighbors could provide.   

It was time for Dad to leave his beloved hometown and move closer to my sister and myself where we could get him the help and support he and Jan needed. 

And so it was that, in July of 2024, 137 years after the arrival of C.W. Truby, the Truby family bid farewell to the good and kind people of Anthony, Kansas.   

Dad loved playing “wahoo”, rummy, and cribbage (I never really got the hang of cribbage). But his favorite hobby was, by far, carpentry.   I don’t think we ever lived in a home where he didn’t build cabinets, refinish rooms, or add other touches to the house.   Therefore, I am certain that on the afternoon of Friday, May 23rd, when Dad finally met the Greatest Builder in history, his first question to Jesus was whether He had any carpentry projects that he could help with. 

To the wonderful people of Anthony, Kansas.  Thank you so very much for taking such good care of Dad and Jan.    Those of us who survive dad:  Gregory & Jeannette Truby (son & daughter-in-law), Michelle Truby Horton & Ted Horton (daughter and son-in-law),  Jan Truby (widow) , Robert & Marilyn Truby (brother & sister-in-law), Gabriel & Kathrynne Truby, Ariana Truby, Garrett Horton, Tyler Horton (grandchildren), Jaime Oliphant, John Turner (step-children), Makayla, Beau, Melanie, and Madeline Norwood (step-grandchildren) will always be grateful for the support and care you provided. 

— Greg Truby