Ector Thyfault

Ector Thyfault was born August 29, 1935, in Concordia, Kansas.
He is preceded in death by his father, Millard and mother, Eva, sister, Lucille, brother-in-law, Eugene Hall, sister, Jeannine Kopsa, and grandson, Garrett Michael Thyfault.
He is survived by his wife, Kathy, his son, Mike, his daughter-in-law, Andrea and his three grandsons, Dylan, Jackson, and Hunter. Also survived by his brother-in- law, Dennis Kopsa, niece, Jean Zimmerman, nephew, Ken Hall, nephew, Darrell Kopsa, brother-in-law, Harold Keller, sister-in-law, Brenda Keller, and nephews, David and Brian.
As a young man growing up in Concordia, Kansas, Ector excelled as an athlete in several sports. He also always had a job. Once he graduated high school he went to Emporia State Teacher’s College for a year and a half. He then chose to join the United States Marine Corps. His tour of duty was spent in the South Pacific. While serving in the Marine Corps, he swam competitively for the Marine Corps.
After he was honorably discharged he returned home to attend college at Kansas Wesleyan in Salina, Kansas. This is where he met his wife Kathy. They were married May 24, 1962. Once married they moved to Junction City, Kansas, where he taught Psychology and Sociology at Junction City High School. He was also an assistant football coach.
After a couple years of teaching he found his calling and was hired by the American Red Cross in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He accepted the position as Director of Safety Services.
In 1971, he and his wife  welcomed their first and only child, Michael. During the time Ector lived in Grand Rapids he developed a hobby that lasted his whole life. He discovered the love of the Petoskey Stone.
 In 1981, he brought his family to Omaha, Nebraska, and continued working for the Red Cross as Director of Safety Services and retired in 2001. While with the Red Cross people looked to him as a teacher, an innovator, a maverick and mostly importantly a paradyne explorer. He was one of the best safety program directors in the entire country. They had two awards named after Ector Thyfault. The first one was “The Ector Thyfault Award” for service in community health and safety. The second award named after him was called the “Ec Award” in recognition of contributions and dedication to the health and safety of Nakota State Service Council. After retiring he still had to feel connected with the American Red Cross so he spent several years volunteering.
In retirement, Ector developed some hobbies – he collected sports trading cards. He also enjoyed polishing his Petoskey stones and taking them to rock and gem shows. His grandsons attended the rock shows with Ector and enjoyed learning the history of the Petoskey stone and how to get the stones ready to show. He enjoyed spending time watching his three grandsons growing up and playing sports.
His last chapter in life was spent with his wife, his son, daughter-in-law and his grandchildren all living together in the same house where till the very end they were by his side.
In closing he wrote a letter to his family and signed it with this final statement “so long, but never good bye.”