Joseph Peroutek was born to Emil “Peck” and Sarah “Leona” (McCarty) Peroutek on the old homestead south west of Esbon on Dec. 17, 1938. He died Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, at the age of 85.  

He was in Boy Scouts as a child and attended the Mt. Zion Country school and then Esbon High School, graduating with the Class of 1956. After graduating high school, Joe attended radio and television school in Wichita for six months before joining the U.S. Navy a few days before his 18th birthday. While in the Navy, he served in the Naval Air and was stationed in San Diego, California; Norman, Oklahoma; Memphis Tennessee, and Kingsville, Texas. He flew second seat in the Navy jet fighters but was never stationed on a Navy ship. While in the Navy, he was part owner of a TV repair shop in Kingsville, Texas, and continued this upon his honorable discharge from the Navy in mid-1959 when he worked for a TV shop in Red Cloud, and then started his own TV shop in the back of Peck’s hardware store on the main street of Esbon.

He shared the Sacrament of Matrimony with Yvonne (Benoit) Peroutek on Sept. 3, 1960, at Sacred Heart Catholic church in Esbon. They moved to the Moravek place west of Esbon and Joe was farming, raising hogs, and working in the TV shop. In 1968, Joe was in a bad pickup accident crushing his pelvic bone and putting him in the hospital for almost seven weeks. With Joe coming home and only able to walk with a walker, Yvonne found a house in town where the family lived while Joe recuperated.  Shortly after that, the family moved to the old homestead south west of town and lived there until Joe and Yvonne retired from farming in 1995. They moved to Salina, and for the next 23 years, Joe worked various jobs culminating in 13 years at the Salina Parks department where he worked until he was 79 and COPD prevented him from continuing. Not long after that, they entered Hill Top retirement home and then then the Mitchel County RCC where he died.   Joe enjoyed taking his family to ballgames, vacations, camping, fishing, hunting and boating. As he got older, his family and grandchildren were his greatest joy. He enjoyed watching them in everything they did.

Joe was a long-time member of Esbon’s Lions Club and was a devout Catholic who attended Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Esbon and Sacred Heart Cathedral in Salina.

Joe was preceded in death by his sister, Vonda Hale, and his brother Bill. 

Joe is  survived by his wife of 63 years, Yvonne; their four children: Alan Peroutek and wife, Leah, of Boerne, Texas; Yvette Brown and husband, Jerry, of Glen Elder, Kansas; Renee Thompson and husband, Chris, of Salina; and JoVonna Rutherford and husband, Derrick, of Salina; grandchildren: Lacey (Thompson) Caywood of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Grant Brown, of Kansas City, Missouri; Keenan Thompson of Liberal, Kansas; Bailey (Brown) Budke of Kansas City, Missouri; Channing Rutherford of Hays, Kansas Jacob Peroutek of College Station, Texas; Kaiden Thompson of Wichita; Konnor Thompson of Kansas City, Missouri; Kira Rutherford of Kansas City, Missouri; Michael Peroutek of Leander, Texas; Rieker Rutherford of Salina; and Karrigan Thompson of Salina; and great-grandchildren: Audra and Aurie Perry; Carter Anschutz; Corbyn and Avery Brown; Emersyn Rutherford; Asa Budke; Oliver and Warner Thompson; sisters: Pat Trembly of Marble Falls, Texas and Janie Callaway of Belleville.

His funeral was at 10 a.m., Friday, at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Esbon. Visitation was from 1 to 7 p.m. with family present from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday. A rosary service followed at 7 p.m., Thursday at the Roberts Family Funeral Home. Memorials may be given to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Resident Care Center, or the St. Elizabeth Cemetery Fund.