Joe William Meng Sr.

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Joe William Meng Sr., 88, of Bowling Green, died Oct. 22, 2011, at The Medical Center in Bowling Green.

Funeral services will be Friday at 10 a.m. at the J.C. Kirby & Son Funeral Home, Lovers Lane chapel, with burial in the Greenlawn Cemetery in Franklin. Visitation is from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home.

Born to W.H. and Sue Rebecca (Evans) Meng on Oct. 28, 1922, Joe is survived by his wife of 68 years, Martha Louise Summers Meng; three children, son Joe Bill and his wife, Debbie, daughter Sue Ann and her husband, Dr. C.G. O’Brien, and daughter Janie and her husband, Skip Sawatsky; seven grandchildren, Alissa Padgett, Will Meng, Neil O’Brien, Ann Lashbrook, Haley Smith, Lucy Lashbrook and Caitlin O’Brien; and five great-grandchildren, Scarlett, Shep and Ansley Padgett and Joe and Myra Meng.

Joe farmed and raised Angus cattle in Woodburn until 1998 when he sold the farm and moved to Bowling Green. He was a lifelong member of Woodburn Baptist Church. He was in the last graduating class of Woodburn High School in 1941 and attended Western Kentucky University and the University of Kentucky. Joe was the youngest Warren County magistrate ever elected in 1947 and served until 1953. Joe was named Outstanding Young Farmer of Warren County in 1955 and Outstanding Adult Farmer in 1971. He was on the board of directors of Bowling Green Bank & Trust Co. (BB&T) from 1950-2004. He was on the Warren Rural Electric Cooperative board from 1957-1997 and on the Kentucky RECC board for 25 years, serving as president in 1970. He also served on the National Rural Electric Central Finance Corp. board for nine years. He was a long-time member and past president of Kentucky Angus Association and was on the board of directors and served as an officer of the American Angus Association from 1966-1973. He also served on the Governor’s Council on Agriculture under three governors, Wendell Ford, Julian Carroll and John Y. Brown.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to a charity of choice, American Cancer Society or Woodburn Baptist Church.