Theodore C. Scherbarth

Theodore “Ted” C. Scherbarth, 90, of Fairbury, passed away August 13, 2020, at Heritage Care Center in Fairbury, Nebraska. Ted was born August 1, 1930, in Burwell, Nebraska to Albert Fredrick William Scherbarth and Ella Mae Detienne.
Ted graduated from high school in Taylor, Nebraska in 1948, briefly taught school and joined the National Guard. In 1953 he moved to Fairbury to join his elder brother Grant, where they established Scherbarth Welding in downtown Fairbury. They were joined soon after by brother Roger and together they built a prosperous business that has flourished in Fairbury for over 60 years. The business was incorporated as Scherbarth Inc in 1959. They specialized in repair and fabrication of farm and grain handling equipment and gradually evolved into feed mill and grain elevator construction and repair. The company built remodeled, expanded, and repaired grain elevators and feed mills across Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Eventually, a branch office was opened in Hastings, Nebraska and run by son Robert. By 1991 the business had become primarily retail with the establishment of Ace Hardware at the Fairbury location.
Ted was very active in the Fairbury community, serving on the city council and as mayor of Fairbury for two terms. He was member of Optimist Club and Elks Lodge and on the board of Fairbury Country Club as well as many other community activities.
Ted lived a full and varied life for nearly all his 90 years. He was an enthusiastic traveler and visited many of our national parks and many attractions in all over the country as well as Mexico, South and Central America. He was an avid deep-sea fisherman and enjoyed taking family and friends on fishing trips on his Florida based fishing boat. He played golf for many years and enjoyed participating in local and regional golf tournaments in Nebraska and surrounding areas. As he traveled, he took lots of photos and eventually became an accomplished photographer. In semi-retirement he spent a lot of his time digitizing, organizing, and restoring the thousands of photos in his collection. Ted loved University of Nebraska sports and made many trips to Lincoln to attend football, basketball, and volleyball games.
He is survived by wife Carolyn; sister Zora Tannehill; children Don (Luann Weber), Judy (Ed Kramer) Janice (Kendall Turner), Nancy, and Lynn (Jeff Mills). Ted was blessed with 11 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his brothers Grant and Roger, first wife Mary (Ahl), son Robert, and great granddaughter Ellie.

Services will be held Tuesday, August 18 at Grace Lutheran Church in Fairbury at 10:00 a.m. No Luncheon after the service. Burial will be at Banner Cemetery in Burwell, NE at 4:00 p.m. Gerdes-Meyer Funeral Home is assisting with arrangements.