Barton L. Kreider was born July 19, 1940 in Sidney, NE to Irma (Whitefoot) and Wilfred Kreider and received his final clearance for “take off” on October 4, 2010.  The family moved to Grant, NE in 1942 where his father purchased the Pontiac and Case Implement dealerships.  Barton graduated from Perkins County High School in 1958. He married Jacque Makinster in 1959.  To this union two children were born, Shelley and Tim.  He purchased a commercial chicken operation with 10,000 chickens and trucked and sold eggs to Safeway in Denver, CO. He also distributed groceries and hospital supplies to the Grant area for about eight years. Following a fire that destroyed the chicken operation in 1967, he became a licensed insurance agent for Harrach Insurance Agency in Grant. In 1970, he moved his family to Crawford where Barton was the Manager of Crawford Bank Agency providing insurance services to the Crawford area.  In 1984 he purchased the agency and renamed it the Kreider Insurance Agency. He enjoyed caring for the area and his customers.   He served several years on the board of directors for the Independent Insurance Agents of NE (Big I). He operated the insurance agency until February 2008, when he sold the agency to his son and semi-retired. 

 

Through out his life, Barton was active in many organizations and boards.  He was a past president of the Grant and Crawford Jaycees and the Chamber of Commerce. He was a Rotarian, a member of the Crawford United Methodist Church, Airplane Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), Comanche Society, Crawford Hospital board, and a current board member of the Ponderosa Settlement.  Barton enjoyed his yard and small acreage, golfing, and most of all, flying his Comanche airplane.  Flying was a hobby his father suggested to Barton at age 14, which became his passion as a private pilot for 56 years. He provided several people their first airplane ride and had soft touch landings. He enjoyed saying he was going to “turn gas into noise and fly into the sunset”.

 

He is preceded in death by his parents Irma and Wilfred Kreider, his sister Carol (Kreider) Upright, brother-in-law Ray Horine, father and mother-in-law Ray and Maxine Makinster. 

Immediate Survivors:

 

Loving Wife- Jacque, of 51 years

Daughter- Shelley and husband Ed McCoy of Scottsbluff, NE.

Son- Tim and wife Melanie Kreider of Gering, NE.

 

Grandsons- Johnathan McCoy and wife Katie of Lincoln, NE; Max McCoy of Gering, NE; Spencer McCoy of Lincoln, NE; Kelly McCoy of Scottsbluff, NE.

 

Granddaughters- Mikayla Kreider, Baily Kreider of Gering, NE.

 

Brother-in-law- Terryl and wife Suzanne Makinster of Scottsdale AZ.

 

Sister-in-law- Rita Horine of Omaha, NE.

 

Numerous nephews and one niece and cousins.