William Floyd "Bill Willy" McConkey

1944 - 2025

William (Bill) (Willy) Floyd McConkey

March 23, 1944 - June 24, 2025

William (Bill) (Willy) Floyd McConkey, age 81, of Gering, NE, passed away June 24, 2025, peacefully at Skyview Nursing Home in Bridgeport, NE.

Memorial Services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 2, 2025 at the Gering Zion Church. Burial will be held at 3:00 pm, Wednesday, at the Antelope Valley Cemetery near Oshkosh.

Holechek-Bondegard Funeral Home and Cremations in Oshkosh is serving the McConkey family.

Family and friends can leave condolences at www.bondegardfunerals.com.

Bill was born at the Lewellen Hospital on March 23, 1944, to Norman Carson McConkey and Clara Mae (Cooper) McConkey. He grew up in and around Lisco and on the Eldred Ranch north of Lisco. He went to High School in Curtis, NE as a Freshman in 1959 and graduated from Curtis, NE in 1962.

In 1963, Bill went into the Navy and was sent to bootcamp in San Diego, CA. After boot camp, he was shipped to Treasure Island in San Francisco, CA. After that, he was stationed in the Philippines at Subic Bay. There, he was on the USS Neches A0-47, which was an oiler used to fuel the battleships in the Vietnam War. On the ship, he had various jobs. He was proud to be a Vietnam Vet. He was honorably discharged in 1967.

After returning home, he met and married Evelyn Kay McNally. They dated for a year and a half and married on April 18, 1969. Kay had two daughters, Rhona Kae and Lisa Ann, from a previous marriage that Bill adopted on December 21, 1972, and always call his own. On December 22, 1972, William Tood McConkey was born.

After Bill and Kay were married, they moved to Scottsbluff, NE to a little trailer court called Baily's Trailer Court. In 1972, they bought a mobile home, moved to Terrytown and raised their family there. Around 1983, they bought a piece of land south of Gering, NE and that is where they lived until Kay passed away in 2011 and in 2020, Bill's health forced him to move to town to a little apartment in Gering.

After moving to Scottsbluff, he worked at WNTC and Blaha GMC and eventually opened his own mechanic shop with his brother, Dennis and together, they were the most beloved mechanics to the Scottsbluff and Gering farmers. The shop was called McConkey Brothers Repair. They ran the shop and eventually Dennis went to Floyd's Truck and Bill continued until the years of mechanical work took a toll on his body and he retired.

Retirement was good to Bill, his favorite hobbies were fishing, and tractor pulling events with his little Allison tractor he called "Little Richard" named after his father-in-law. He was an avid Chevy Tri-5 (55, 56 & 57) enthusiast. He loved those cars.

He enjoyed spending time with his grandkids and loved to watch the videos of them playing ball or just being kids. He also liked visiting with friends, he knew everybody so a trip to Wal-Mart could take forever.

Bill's surviving family members include his daughters, Rhona Blake and Lisa Brown; brother, Rod (Jackie) McConkey; niece, Patricia (Sonny) Medows; grandchildren, Crystal (Beau) Thelander, Leah (Tyler) Foland, Emma (John) Terwilliger and Zzyzx (Adrian) Brown; great-grandchildren, Hailee Thelander, Todd Thelander, Eli Seymour, Jake Foland, Dirk Ashing, Emey Ashing, Aedan Ashing, Hunter Ashing and Arabella Brown; extended grandchildren, Shyanne Blake and family, Vanessa Baisden and family. He also leaves behind many nieces and nephews, family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 42 years, Evelyn Kay McConkey; son, William Todd McConkey; parents, Norman and Clara Mae McConkey; brother, Dennis McConkey; in-laws, Richard and Lucille McNally.

He will be missed by all of us; his ornery streak and his kind heart will never leave us.