Joseph Max Guipre was called by his Lord and Savior on Sunday, March 01, 2009. Max was born on September 18, 1917 to Enos and Mary Guipre of rural Simpson, KS. Max served in the United States Navy as a Yeoman First Class from 1941 through 1945 in the Pacific theater. After serving his country, Max attended Brown Mackie College in 1946, where he met and later married Betty Buckland on September 8, 1946 in Salina, KS.
Max was a lifetime grain elevator manager and owner. Max worked for several regional grain companies and finally came to Minneapolis, KS in the fall of 1951 as manager of the Minneapolis Grain Company. He later bought the Minneapolis Grain Company from Evans Grain Company and renamed it the Minneapolis Agri Center. After 40 years in business in Minneapolis, he retired from the grain and fertilizer industry in 1992.
Max served as Mayor of Minneapolis for one year. He was also a member of the Medics of Ottawa County committee which was formed to build the present Com Care clinic building in Minneapolis as well as aid in the hiring of the original physicians, Dr. Dean Bray, Dr. Ken Wedel, and Dr. Kerm Wedel.
In his retirement years, Max enjoyed farming on his southern Ottawa County farm and traveling across the United States, to New Zealand and the Bahamas. He was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 3201.
Max is preceded in his death by his parents, Enos and Mary Guipre; one sister and brother in law, Joan and Don Everly; and his son, Sidney Guipre.
Max's memory will live on through his wife, Betty; his daughter, Keven Duggan of Minneapolis; his son, Bryan Guipre of Minneapolis; by his three grandchildren, Hunter, Katie, and Daylin; and his two sisters, Genevieve Smalley of Sacramento, CA and Virginia Korngold and husband Arthur of Roseville, CA.
Funeral services will be at 2:00 P.M., Wednesday at the First United Methodist Church, Minneapolis with Michele McHenry, CLP officiating. Burial will be in Highland Cemetery, Minneapolis. Visitation will be from 2 P.M. to 8 P.M. Tuesday at Wilson Shields Funeral Home where the family will receive friends from 6 P.M. to 8 P.M. Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Minneapolis, KS.