Willis Dean "Willie" Ensz

1933 - 2025

Willis "Willie" Dean Ensz

December 16, 1933 - June 29, 2025

Wichita, Kansas - Willis "Willie" Dean Ensz was born on December 16, 1933 to Abraham (Fred) and Margaret Ensz. He was the youngest of four brothers. Willie is survived by his wife Marilyn Ruth (Wiens) of 70 years, and their son Scott. Preceding Willie in death were sons Kelley and Rick.

Willie was born and raised in Hillsboro, Kansas. He often shared stories about his brothers and friends and all their activities.

After graduating from Hillsboro High School, he married his longtime sweetheart, Marilyn, on July 29, 1954, and celebrated almost 71 years of marriage!

In 1955, Willie was drafted into the Army and served in the 10th Special Forces Group as a Green Beret and was stationed in Bad Tölz, Germany.

After the Army, Willie & Marilyn moved to Wichita where he worked a short time at Boeing before beginning his career at Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. He loved his time there and held several positions, from lineman to repairman. After Southwestern Bell & AT&T split, Willie continued working at AT&T, retiring after 30 years.

While in Wichita, Willie and Marilyn started their family. Willie was always a willing participant in their son's activities. He was an avid sports fan and became a Kansas Jayhawk fan since both sons attended school there. They often attend KU basketball games, driving two hours each way from Wichita.

After retirement, Willie and Marilyn moved back "home" to Hillsboro and lived on the Toews' homestead. Willie had to stay busy and found odd jobs to work – including working for Jared Jost at the Jost Funeral Home. Every funeral brought his past life home to him as he knew so many being from Hillsboro. He would often come home with stories about someone at the funeral and reminisce with Marilyn. Willie also served on the Hillsboro Museum Society committee.

Willie had several hobbies. One of these was working on clocks. He liked the challenge of fixing a broken clock making it keep time down to the second. He collected any and all Roy Rogers memorabilia he could find – he was a huge fan. He also liked cars, tractors, and anything that had an engine and moved. He collected many of these over the years. His favorite was his restored 1929 Model A Ford Sport Coupe. You could find him almost every year driving one of his vehicles in the Marion County parade.

As age took its toll Willie moved into the Bethesda Home in Goessel. He enjoyed the Staff and residents, but often said he missed being at the farm.

He loved his five grandchildren, Christian and Kayla (Colorado Springs, CO), Hunter and Virginia (Cole Camp, MO), Chase (Red River, NM), Annabelle (Ensz) Atkinson and Michael (Prairie Village, KS), and Tucker (Kansas City, MO), and his great-grandson Dax.

Celebration of Life Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Hillsboro United Methodist Church in Hillsboro at 11:00 a.m. officiated by Rev. Margaret Johnson. Family will receive friends from 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Jost Funeral Home in Hillsboro on Monday. Memorials to the Church, Bethesda Home or Community care Hospice in care of Jost Funeral Home P.O. Box 266 Hillsboro, KS 67063. Online condolences at www.jostfuneralhome.com