Oscar Raymond "Ozzie" Eggers

OSCAR "OZZIE" RAYMOND EGGERS, 84, passed away peacefully Friday, Dec. 31, 2004, at his home, Prairie Village, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City. His wife and son were at his side. The cause of death was prostate cancer. Born Sept. 24, 1920, in Fort Wayne, he was the son of Fred and Minnie Kiel Eggers. He distinguished himself early as a student and as a leader at both Emmaus Lutheran School and South Side High School. He married his high school sweetheart, Eleanor Vesey, on Jan. 2, 1942. They were married for 63 years. She survives him. They have one son, Thomas Eggers and new daughter-in-law, Angela Wang Eggers, from Shihezi City, Xinjiang Province, China. They live in Prairie Village, Kan. He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from the University of Chicago, in 1942, shortly after the beginning of World War II. He enlisted in the 13th General Hospital, subsequently being transferred to the Army Specialized Training Program. The army taught him to speak, read and write Chinese. He was assigned to the Counter Intelligence Corps and he spent several months in the Pacific area. After the war he returned to the University of Chicago to resume his study of sociology, earning a master's degree and a doctor of philosophy degree with honors. The subject of his Ph.D. dissertation was the deculturation of Samoa. He spent a year living in American Samoa studying and writing about the subject. His career centered around the teaching of sociology. He received several awards for excellence in teaching. He taught at Indiana University, in Fort Wayne, at the University of Wisconsin, in Racine, and Kenosha at Ohio University, in Athens and at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He taught at UMKC for 35 years, retiring in 1991, as Professor Emeritus. He was chair of the Sociology Department from 1984 to 1989. Funeral service is 2 p.m. Friday, with visitation one hour prior, at Klaehn, Fahl & Melton Funeral Home, Winchester Road Chapel, 6424 Winchester Road. There will be a memorial service on Jan. 29, 2005, in Kansas City. Burial in Lindenwood Cemetery.