Robert C. (Bob) Talley

Bob Talley was most known for his winning smile. He was born, Robert Calvin Talley, November 30, 1926, the third of four sons, to Claude Lee and Nellie Nola Talley. He was the only one of their sons born in Melbourne, FL. The family returned to Kansas shortly after Bob’s birth. He grew up and stayed in Southeast, Kansas, in the Iola area.

During the years between graduating from high school and his marriage, he bought a truck and baled hay with a friend, Joe Jean; he ran a milk route for Pet Milk, in Iola, picking up milk cans from the dairies and delivering them to the plant; and he worked at Smitty’s gas station in Iola, Kansas.

In February, 1946, he told his parents he was going to Florida to visit his aunts & uncles. His mother bought him a train ticket and left him at the station. As soon as she left, Bob cashed in the ticket, hitch-hiked to Florida and joined the Navy. He wanted to do his duty in WWII. Upon entering, the Navy learned he was a skilled typist, he was sent to Yeoman school, in San Diego, CA. He then returned to Florida to continue his service.

After the war, he returned home and attended Iola Jr. College. He married Patty Jean Cormack/Brassfield (of Iola, KS), June 25, 1950, in Bentonville, AR. He opened Talley Chevrolet in Moran, Kansas, with Ellis Talley and Tom Metcalf. Shortly thereafter, Tom Metcalf left the business and the brothers were co-owners. The business motto was “We Trade for Anything” and they did. They traded for bicycles, pianos, jewelry, real estate, and even a horse. Bob knew virtually every family in Allen County, Kansas, and most families in the surrounding counties.

The family rarely traveled on a vacation that they didn’t have someone recognize Bob and say they bought a car from him. It got to be a joke, it happened so frequently. Whenever someone said they purchased a car from him, he would fill in the year, model, engine, color, transmission and more. He was a member of the American Legion, Jones-Hardy Post #385 and was a volunteer firefighter and ambulance attendant. He operated the dealership until the 1980s, when interest rates soared. Upon closing the dealership, he became a pipe salesman for Hillenburg Oil Co., in Bronson, Kansas. He later sold vehicles, for Shields Motor Company, in Chanute, KS and later still, became a realtor, selling for Kent Thompson Realty, in Iola, Kansas. He retired in his 80’s due to memory loss from strokes. However, he continued to work on his farm, clearing pasture for a few years.

Bob and Patty frequented the area dances. Bob enjoyed going to Oklahoma with a group of men on rattle snake hunts. He returned with a tiny skunk one year, which became the family pet named Honey. He helped Claudia’s Girl Scout Troop, chauffeuring them on scouting trips. We rarely missed attending the Colony Rodeo, attended many of the Humboldt Stock Car Races, loved celebrating the 4th of July, attending the county fair, participating in the Moran Day parade and following Roller Derby, when it was popular. He mostly loved selling cars, driving cars and attending the Chevrolet Car Show, where they unveiled the new models, every year in Kansas City. He loved people and had a large circle of friends. He loved animals and the family had many pets; dogs, cats, rabbits, a pigeon, skunk, raccoon, turtle, owl and a possum. He loved jokes and pranks. He taught his kids how to short-sheet a bed at an early age. It wasn’t unusual for our family to return home late at night from some venture, and find our porch piled full of everything that could be found and was not secured; blocking the front door. Of course, he did the same thing when his friends weren’t home. His children loved the stories, from when he and Patty were young and they chivareed their newly married friends, complete with the groom pushing the bride around the Iola Square in a wheel barrow. They changed labels on cans, tied bells on the bed springs and tied long ropes of cans to the honeymoon vehicle. The children also loved the stories from his childhood. One of which involved he and his brother, Mid, riding bicycles from the top of the barn roof onto a manure pile, and another was Bob jumping into a silo, because he thought as the silage gradually lowered, he would get stronger leg muscles and become like Superman. All it did was hurt more each time it lowered. Out in the farm fields, Bob taught his kids how to drive, shoot a rifle and shotgun, and learn to drive a manual transmission. He ran down the street, holding on to the bike, as he taught us to ride a bike. He taught all of us kids and Taci to “drive” on his lap, from the time we were about 4 yrs. old. He would tell us how to steer and then take his hands of the wheel and let us steer. He taught us to play pool and pinball and we all helped or worked, at the dealership. His grandson, Shane, says his favorite Bobby quote is, “I just don’t know if I hate beavers or I love dynamite.” His granddaughter, Taci, remembers chugging around the field, as she learned to drive a standard, learning to fish and clean the fish and play shuffleboard. You know…….he taught us all the essentials of life!

He was preceded in death by his wife, Patty; daughter, Gayle Lynn Talley; his parents, Claude and Nellie Talley; his brothers, Ellis Raymond Talley; Millard “Mid” Claude Talley, and infant brother, Jon Clinton Talley; and an infant great-granddaughter, Hailey Fletcher, VA.

He is survived by his son, Rick Lee Talley, Iola, KS; daughter, Claudia Lano Hobson and husband Leon, Manhattan, KS; five grandchildren: Taci Sigg Fletcher, Daleville, VA ; Jesse Talley, TX; Shane Audley, KC, MO; Deandra Audley, Olathe, KS; Chad Hobson, Houston, TX; and four great grandchildren: Seth Fletcher and Isabelle Fletcher, Daleville, VA; Logan Fletcher and his wife, Julia, Springfield, MA; and Noah Fletcher, Richmond, VA.

In lieu of a traditional funeral service, the family requests your participation in a drive-through graveside caravan service at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 1, 2020, in the Moran Cemetery, Moran, Kansas. Military Funeral Honors to be conducted by the Moran American Legion, Jones Hardy Post 385.

Memorials are suggested to the Good Shepherd Home Care & Hospice or Moran American Legion Post 385, and be left with Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, 1883 US Highway 54, Iola, Kansas.

Condolences for the family may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com .



Memories of Time with Bob



Running out of room, in the vehicle, and all of us kids riding in the trunk, to make room.

Dad getting chased, by a bull Buffalo, as he tried to get it to come closer, so his kids could see it better.

Dad and the men rolling dice, in the showroom of the dealership.

Dad getting Cashews and Peanuts from the nut dispensers, on the dealership counter.

Watching him and the volunteer firefighters, fight the Knight’s Hardware fire, in the middle of winter. It was bitter cold and the entire 2 story structure was engulfed in flames and covered with ice, as the water poured onto it. Dad fell down the fire escape, as he had a few drinks before responding to the fire alarm.

The Harlem Globe Trotters playing an On-The-Spot basketball game, organized by dad and other icons from that era, in Moran, while the team’s bus was broken down in Moran.

The celebration in Moran, when Debbie Barnes was crowned Miss America 1968. Highway 59, through Moran was closed down, for the celebration and street dance that broke out. The celebration was wildest, in the block of the dealership. A trucker stopped at the railroad tracks and tentatively questioned what the rioting was about. Dad loaded up the American Legion cannon in the back of a pickup and we filled the pickup bed with people and headed to Iola, to announce the victory. We got run out of town, with the threat that Dad would be arrested, if he fired it again.

Dad & Mom hosting a Senior Class, from an Indian reservation in New Mexico or Arizona, when their vehicle broke down, in Moran. They were with us for several days. We later, traveled there, to visit them and they gave dad a hand-crafted cross-bow, the senior boys made.

Dad ordering a Corvette, for a demo car and letting his kids drive it, whenever we wanted. Claudia learned, quickly, that it was not designed with a pregnant woman in mind.

Dad’s pranks. His favorite was probably when he would return from a rattlesnake hunt. He had a wooden cage built. One end had a tightly woven wire covering, over the frame. This is where he would place a rattlesnake. The other end, which was probably ½ the length, was all wood and you could not see anything inside. There was a wall inside, separating the two. The wire covered end, had a door and was locked, with a padlock. There was also a door on the wood end. Dad would take an unsuspecting person, back to see the rattlesnake. While they were looking, he would say he was going to take the snake out and he would have his snake catcher in hand. While the person was close, he would open the door and a spring, fashioned similar to a snake, would spring out. It was quite a scare!

Dad & Mom taking Gayle, Claudia and 2 of our friends, rattlesnake hunting in Oklahoma. Of course, he didn’t take us where we would actually find snakes……………..at least I don’t think so, as we didn’t find any. We were convinced we just might though.

Rick and his friends getting jobs at the dealership. They sometimes would chase the “lucky” guy down and hang him, from his belt loops, off the ground, from the engine hoist.