On July 25th 1931, Newell and Mildred Lambert welcomed their middle child and youngest son, William Joe, to the family farm at the Fritz Place" in northern Smith County, KS." Joe"s older siblings were Dwayne, Velda and Dale, and younger siblings were Elsie and Sharon." Their family moved to the Chester Overmiller farm " mile north of the Thornburg Church in 1951. Joe attended Thornburg Grade School and was a 1949 graduate of Smith Center High School." During two years of high school he stayed in town with Ralph Tucker"s folks during the week and went home on weekends." For his junior year, John Overmiller drove him to town." He later met Beverley Ellis at a softball game and they married on February 11, 1951." She was his lifelong partner and best friend. Joe was in the US Army for two years and was stationed at Ladd Air Force Base in Fairbanks, Alaska for one year, with Beverley and son Larry Joe joining him there. After his discharge, he and his family moved to a farm 2 " miles west of the Thornburg Church." There they added daughter, Judith Annette and son, Jerry Lee."" Joe farmed with his dad, brother Dwayne, and brother-in-law Lynn Schenk for a time, then with his dad only and eventually many years with son, Jerry." He also milked cows daily for 21 years and was a school bus driver." Joe served on the Smith Center School Board for 12 years during which time the new school was built." In the 70"s Joe created Lambert Manufacturing making squeeze chutes, flat beds, cattle panels and various other items and had two patents for his products." Joe also made his own Lambert Chuck Wagon and catered many large meals and family events. In 1995, Joe and Bev moved to town." Joe became a crop adjustor and worked until he was 79 years old." He was also hired to teach others crop adjusting." From 1995-2009, while his grandkids were playing sports, he and Thaine Tomlinson videotaped local school sporting events and played them on Channel 17."" They eventually gave all of their Video Cam equipment to the school. Joe loved learning and he did everything with passion." Many of Joe"s other interests were:" starting the North Central Kansas Christian Choir, flying, photography, skill-saw art, gardening, cooking, writing for the Pioneer newspaper, recording veterans stories and publishing them in his book This n" That"." He also was up to date on technology and loved to surprise his grandkids by being so tech savvy. He cared for Beverley after she developed Alzheimer"s until his second broken hip made it impossible in 2013."" They were able to celebrate 64 years together." Joe lived 14 months in Smith Center Health and Rehab." While there he served on the Resident"s Council." Joe died on December 11, 2015 at the Smith County Memorial Hospital surrounded by his family. He will be missed by his wife Beverley Lambert; children:" Larry (Annie) Lambert, Judy Burgess (Larry), Jerry (Lori) Lambert; grandchildren, Luke (Kit) Burgess, Blake (Casey) Burgess, Jada Burgess;" Laurie (Eric) Zanger, Mark (Liz) Lambert; Aftan (Steven) Tso & Wesley (Carol) Lambert," Great-grandkids:" Jesse, Winter, Pearl, Rosa, Brooks, Keely & Barrett Burgess, Emma, Will & Kate Zanger, Kansas Tso; Brother Dale (Norma) Lambert; sister Elsie (Marvin) Kugler, brothers-in-law Stan and Roger (Marilyn) Ellis, and sisters-in-law Shirley Gass, Judy Overmiller, Wanda Pierce, Vivian (Joel) Kuyper." Also included would be many nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of friends. Visitation will be held from 5PM until 7PM Friday evening at the Simmons-Rentschler Mortuary in Smith Center, KS. Graveside services will be held at 11:00AM Saturday, December 19, 2015 at the Fairview Cemetery in Smith Center, KS. Celebration of life service will be held at 1:30PM Saturday, December 19, 2015 at the Thornburg Church in rural Smith County, KS. The family has requested memorial contributions be made to the NCK Honor Flight and/or the Gardner Wellness Center and may be sent in care of the mortuary.