Edwin Dale Hundley

Ed Hundley, 92, Overland Park, Kansas, died March 28, 2018, in Overland Park.

He was born December 19, 1925, in Lawrence, Kansas, to Overton Ellis Hundley and Stella Wilson Hundley.  He enlisted in the Army Air Corps while a senior at Lawrence High School and was called to active duty in January 1944.  He served as Radio Operator and Gunner on a B-24 crew and was discharged in April 1946.  He returned to Lawrence and took classes at the University of Kansas, having graduated from high school by taking correspondence courses.  He then attended school in Port Arthur, Texas, where he became a licensed First-Class Radio Engineer.  In 1951, he helped with the start-up of KLWN-AM in Lawrence, working as a sportscaster, salesman, and assistant manager.

It was while he was working at KLWN that he met Zora Belle Robertson.  They married on June 27, 1954.  Together, Ed and Zora Belle built and managed radio stations in Trenton, Missouri (KTTN-AM), Nebraska City, Nebraska (KNCY-AM), and Wellington, Kansas (KLEY-AM and KZED-FM).  In 1985, Ed and Zora Belle received the Grover C. Cobb Award from the University of Kansas “for excellence in broadcasting and public service.”  They are the only husband and wife to have been honored jointly with this award.  In 1989, Ed received the Distinguished Service Award from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters and was inducted into the Kansas Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

Ed served as chairman of the board of First Christian Church in Nebraska City and First Christian Church in Wellington.  In Trenton, Nebraska City and Wellington, Ed served as president of the Rotary Club and as president of the Chamber of Commerce.  He was awarded the Distinguished Service Award by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce in 1988.

Ed is survived by his wife, Zora Belle, by his son and daughter-in-law, Douglas and Molly Hundley (Leawood, Kansas), by his daughter, Teresa Watson (Overland Park, Kansas), and by four grandchildren: Katharine Marshall (Hudson, Wisconsin), Anne Hundley (Omaha, Nebraska), Megan Watson (Overland Park, Kansas), and Evan Watson (Macon, Georgia).  Ed is also survived by his sister, Doris Johnson (Lawrence, Kansas).

Visitation will be from 10:00 AM to 10:45 AM on April 2, 2018, at Hillcrest Christian Church, 11411 Quivira Road, Overland Park, Kansas.  A Service of Thanksgiving will follow at Hillcrest Christian Church at 11:00 AM.  Interment will be at Lawrence Memorial Park, Lawrence, Kansas.

Memorial donations may be made to KU Endowment in support of the Ed and Zora Belle Hundley Scholarship or the KU Alzheimer’s Disease Center.  Send donations to KU Endowment, P.O. Box 928, Lawrence, KS 66044 or give online at www.kuendowment.org/givenow.