Richard Wayne Kinsey

Richard Wayne Kinsey, 75, of Cleveland, MO, passed away on December 22, 2020, at Select Specialty Hospital in Kansas City, KS, after a long recovery from surgery and then Covid-19.

Richard was born on June 26, 1945, to Marion and Lotta (Acord)Kinsey in the rural area of Yates Center, Kansas. He grew up in a large family with five sisters and one brother. He graduated from El Dorado Kansas High School in 1963.

At age 20, he married Penny Swinskoe, and they were blessed with four daughters. In 1983 he married Machelle Scarrow, and was blessed with another daughter.

On March 19, 1999, Richard married Debra (Medlin)Butler. They were married over 21 years, residing in Cleveland, Missouri.

His first job was working for his Dad's oil well repair company. After high school, he moved to Ft. Collins, CO, and worked on a logging crew where he learned to drive a semi-truck. He drove over-the-road for more than 40 years throughout the United States and into Canada. He worked for many trucking companies, including Tamko Asphalt Products in Phillipsburg, Kansas, J. B. Hunt, and various others. In 1982 he represented Tamko in the Kansas Truck Roadeo and placed third. He was very proud of his driving record of approximately three million over-the-road miles, accident free. In the last few years of his long career, he drove dump trucks locally so he could be home at night. He retired in 2007. Besides Kansas, Richard resided in several other states, including Colorado, Montana, Utah and Nebraska, before making his final residence in Missouri.


As a child he spent many hours indoors because of allergies and severe asthma. His mother bought him a leather tooling kit to alleviate some of the boredom, and he taught himself leather tooling. He was quite talented and made beautiful purses, wallets, and belts. He also enjoyed woodworking, reading, camping and fishing. He had many memories of taking his daughters to Montana when they were young and catching a 56- pound paddlefish. He loved Montana and the mountains. He also enjoyed gardening. Until recently, he and Debbie had a large garden. He had a simple philosophy for gardening - "put the seeds in the ground and if it grows, it grows. If it doesn't, it doesn't". He was known for some of the best peaches and cream sweet corn, and turnips in Cleveland.

Richard is survived by his wife, Debbie of the home, his daughters, Karen Jorgensen (Kevin) of Hettinger, ND, Sandi Olsen (Layne) of Colstrip, MT, Gina Powell (Brian Schneider) of Mitchell, NE, and Rachel Kinsey (Justin Lemke) of Kansas City, MO, his brother Raymond Kinsey, and sisters Lou Young, Cora Rien, Vicky Larson, Lois Huntington, and Charlotte Reese (Lonnie Thiel). He has eight grandchildren, Randi, Laci, Keifer, Aaron, Spencer, Kylee, Tate and Madison. and five great grandchildren, Hanah, Emily, Maxx, Izzabelle, and Lidea.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Marion Kinsey and Lotta Potter, daughter, Charmain Flink, and many other family members and friends.


Memorials are suggested to the American Heart Association or the American Diabetes Association.


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