Lannie Charles Ornburn Sr.

Lannie's service will be livestreamed at the scheduled service time. Click here to view the service.

Lannie Charles Ornburn Sr., 77, of Olathe, passed away on July 14, 2024 after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his loving wife, Janet M. Ornburn; his children, Lannie C. Ornburn, Jr. (Stephanie), Christine Dowell (Christopher) and Jennifer Utting (Luke); his grandkids Avery and Austin Ornburn, C.J., Chandler (Autumn) and Cassie Dowell, Addison and Blake Utting; his great-grandchildren Aubree and Rex Dowell; and his younger brother, David (Nancy) Ornburn and their children Michael, Chelsey, Jacob and Andrew; as well as many wonderful nieces, nephews and in-laws.

He was born on March 26, 1947 to W.L. and Elda M. (Stevens) Ornburn in Sedalia, MO. Lannie loved to reminisce about summer trips that his family would take up to Canada, where they would boat, fish and be a part of the best that nature had to offer. After graduating from Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas, Lannie ultimately decided to join the United States Army.

On August 16, 1969, he married Janet M. Ball. Shortly after they got married, the Army sent Lannie to Southeast Asia and then to Asmara, Ethiopia where their first child, Lannie Jr., was born in September, 1970. After trying to juggle a young family in a foreign country, Lannie decided to get out of the service and began working in the grocery business, a business that was very near and dear to the heart of his father, W.L. Ornburn, a lifelong grocery man himself.

Lannie went to work for Kroger and was very adept at helping manage their stores. In the early 1970s, Lannie would get transferred to a new store almost every year. Lannie and Janet would live in Blue Springs, Atlanta, Warrensburg and Overland Park before deciding to finally settle down and set some actual roots with Lannie Jr., Christine and Jennifer.

Lannie and Janet, along with their three kids, moved to Olathe, Kansas in 1978 and moved next door to Larry and Cathy Gunja. A family that remains near and dear to the hearts of the Ornburn family nearly 50 years later. In addition to working in the grocery business, Lannie began to coach youth baseball and specifically the Louisburg Ford and Pepsi-Cola baseball teams. Those early years in Olathe involved wonderful baseball summers with the Beaver, Herrick, Hare, Gilmore, Murphy, Kiper, Ralston, Patterson, Spears, Bowers and Gudenkauf families. Lannie found incredible joy in watching boys become young men during the trials and tribulations of a baseball career. Undoubtedly, the highlight of his coaching career was in 1985 when he helped Ryan Ralston and Charlie Mocca coach the 13 year-old Olathe East All-Star team as they won the Kansas State Championship, a Midwest Plains Regional Championship in La Junta, Colorado and was one of 8 teams in the nation that made it all the way to the Babe Ruth World Series in Cranston, Rhode Island.

After coaching baseball, Lannie teamed up with Buddy Gilmore and began umpiring baseball games for Olathe Youth Baseball. The combination of Lannie and Buddy umpiring was one-of-a kind and they loved working together as much as they loved threatening to kick out an unruly coach.

Throughout his life, Lannie loved to golf. He loved the challenge of the sport, he loved being outside and he loved spending time with “his people”. There are way too many golf partners that he had in his life to mention them all, but in recent years his weekends were complete when he could spend quality time playing golf with Buddy, Steve, Howard, Mark, Scotty T, Adam, his brother David, Lannie Jr. and the Heritage Park senior league. Playing golf with Lannie wasn’t for the weak. He insisted on being the earliest tee time possible each weekend, which was a lot more difficult for Lannie Jr. than some of the other gentlemen. Lannie kept the most perfect scorecard and was somehow able to calculate who was owed what money with all the different wagers that were in place. The few dollars that were bet would always be paid out during the post-round soda and hot dog or breakfast sandwich.

Lannie devoted his entire career to the grocery business. For a few years, Lannie was the minority owner of a couple of stores in the metropolitan Kansas City area. He was particularly fond of his time working for the Bowes, McKeevers and Queen families. Lannie ultimately retired from Queen’s Price Chopper in 2013 and was extremely fortunate to have been treated like a brother by Barry Queen during the time he worked for the Queen family. He thoroughly enjoyed working with and for Barry and appreciated their special and wonderful friendship.

During his 35 years in the Kansas City grocery business, he made so many wonderful and close friends. One of his closest and dearest friends was Randy Downing. Known by the kids as the “Pepsi guy” early on, Randy and Lannie immediately became the best of friends and remain that way to this day. Randy always made sure that Lannie was squared away on tickets for shows, concerts and sporting events. There isn’t enough ink to put together a full and complete list of so many others, but you all know that he cared and loved each and every one of you. He loved working with and for so many people. Lannie always led by example and was always the first to help when those around him needed it. The pandemic shutdown of 2020 was unique for all of us. For Lannie, it brought attention to what he had known his entire life – grocery workers are a hard working, selfless and an extremely critical component of everyday life.

Upon his retirement, Lannie and Janet were fortunate to take many wonderful trips with very close personal friends like the Gilmores and Gunjas. Lannie and Janet enjoyed their travels to San Diego, Scottsdale, Las Vegas, Greece, Rome, Paris, Canada, Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, Hawaii, Barcelona and his all-time favorite city: Venice, Italy.

Lannie truly believed in Family over everything. As a father, he led by example with his incredible work ethic, tough but always fair expectations and a warm, loving demeanor. He was part of the equation that produced two lawyers and a wonderful elementary school teacher. He loved get-togethers with family and friends where a delicious meal was the focal point. He loved to cheer on the Royals, Chiefs and Jayhawks and was very fortunate to have attended almost every major sporting event involving those teams. While he loved the Royals and Chiefs, nothing compared to his loyalty and love for the Jayhawks. He had many family members and friends that attended KU including his brother, sister-in-laws, Lannie Jr., Jennifer, CJ, Avery and as of this Fall, Cassie. He was blessed to go to the 1988 Final Four and National Championship game with his brother and Lannie Jr., where they all watched “Danny and the Miracles” bring home an unbelievable national championship. Lannie and the family followed that up in 2008, where they all went to Allen Fieldhouse to watch “Mario’s Miracle”. He truly bled Crimson and Blue.

When grandkids came along for Lannie and Janet, they spent all of their free time at their events. When each new school year or sports season would arrive, Lannie would request, within minutes, a full and complete schedule for each of his grandkids. While he may have loved the local professional teams, nothing brought more joy than attending games and events that his grandkids were a part of. Lannie and Janet literally attended hundreds and hundreds of games that their grandkids played in. He enjoyed cheering them on and making friends with other parents and grandparents in the stands. If he had to miss a game, he would immediately text or call to find out how they did. He knew and understood the many valuable life lessons that sports and competition teach.

The family would like to thank all of those that reached out or stopped by in recent months to check-in on our beloved father. Lannie was special, one of a kind and made indelible marks on so many people. We sincerely appreciate those that loved him as much as we did.

Visitation will be held at 11 a.m on Sunday, July 21, 2024, at Penwell-Gabel, 14275 S. Black Bob Road, Olathe, Kansas 66062.

Memorial service will be held at Noon on Sunday, July 21, 2024 at Penwell-Gabel.

Inurnment, with Military Honors, will take place at Oak Lawn Memorial Gardens, 13901 S. Black Bob Road, Olathe, Kansas 66062, immediately after the memorial service.

Memorial donations are suggested to Youth on Course, they “ensure that all young people, regardless of cost or circumstance, can access the transformative power of the sport of golf. They believe in forging a future where golf is not just a game but an inclusive and accessible experience for every young person.”


To share a memory of Lannie or leave a special message for his family, please visit the guestbook below.




To share a memory of Lannie or leave a special message for his family, please visit the guestbook below.