Stanley Roy Bartel

Stanley Roy Bartel, age 76, of Manhattan, died February 28, 2019, at Good Shepherd Hospice House after a short, intense battle with pancreatic cancer. He was born June 22, 1942, in Goessel, Kansas, the son of Paul and Elva (Schmidt) Bartel. He was the third of their seven children. Stan graduated from Goessel High School in 1960. He played basketball and baseball for the school teams and his interest in sports lasted his entire life. From 1964 to 1966, Stan served as an agricultural specialist through Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Aridea, Greece as an alternative to participating in the military. He worked in the northern part of Greece to help the communities devastated by World War 2 and regional wars to improve their agricultural production practices. After Stan returned to the United States, he married Myrna (Funk) Bartel in 1968. They moved to Manhattan, Kansas, and Stan returned to school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education, and later a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Kansas State University. Stan taught vocational agriculture and science classes in his long career as a high school teacher. He worked in many capacities at the high school beyond just teaching: club sponsor, activity bus driver, football videographer, athletics concessions coordinator, and school handyman. He also served as the FFA advisor, a role that he treasured. Stan received an Honorary American FFA Degree in 1976 to recognize the high-quality agricultural education program he had created. He spent 29 years as an educator at Manhattan High School and also taught briefly at Jewell High School after his first retirement. In 1995, Stan was honored as a finalist for Kansas Teacher of the Year. He also worked with the Tohono O’odham Nation, located in south central Arizona, as an advisor from 2000 to 2002 on workforce training and preparing tribe members for farming as a career. Stan’s faith in God was fundamental to his life. He was raised in Tabor Mennonite Church near Goessel and became a founding member of the Manhattan Mennonite Church. Throughout his life, he served the church in many roles: Sunday School teacher, choir member, song and worship leader, youth group sponsor, church moderator and wherever else he saw a need. For 30 years, Stan enjoyed being on the chain crew on the sidelines for the Kansas State football team. He also spent time traveling, fishing and boating with friends and family, completing woodworking projects to share with others, and volunteering in the Manhattan community, with Mennonite Disaster Service and with MCC. He was never without an entertaining story to tell. He loved teaching others and solving problems; most of all he loved spending time with his family. Stan is survived by a host of friends and family who loved him, including his wife, Myrna, two children and five grandchildren: Alex Bartel (wife Sheri, children Katina, Noah and Elisa) of Holton and Amy Lingenfelser (husband Josh, children Madeline and Julia) of Overland Park. The celebration of life for Stan will be held on Saturday, March 9 at 10:30am at First United Methodist Church, 612 Poyntz, Manhattan, due to seating limitations at the Manhattan Mennonite meetinghouse. Memorial contributions may be made to the Mennonite Central Committee or Manhattan Mennonite Church building fund (left in care of Manhattan Mennonite Church, 1000 Fremont St, Manhattan, KS 66502) or to Kansas State’s Johnson Cancer Research Center (https://cancer.k-state.edu/support/). If you have stories about the experiences you shared with Stan, the family would love to hear them. You can email them to stanbartelstories@gmail.com and they will be compiled into a memory book for Stan’s family.