Charles Cushing

Funeral service for Charles Ned Cushing, 86, Lawrence will be held 1:30 p.m., Thursday, February 11, 2010 at First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence.  Burial will be held 11 a.m. Friday, February 12, 2010 at the Downs Cemetery in Downs, Kansas.  He died, Sunday, February 7, 2010 at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

He was born on September 21, 1923 in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Charles L. and Irma H. (Dougherty) Cushing.

Ned graduated from Downs High School in 1941 and the University of Kansas Business School.  He served in the United States Navy during WWII.  Ned entered midshipman’s school and served as skipper of a crash boat to pick up downed Navy pilots in training.

Ned later became President of Downs National Bank, Downs, Kansas and later was C.E.O.  of University State Bank in Lawrence, where he retired in 1983 after more than 40 years in the banking business.

Ned served as chairman of the National Young Republicans in 1959, and was active in national and Kansas politics for many years.  He was a member of the Kansas Board of Regents and an avid University of Kansas sports and band booster.  He served as President of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce from 1977-1978 and was active in many Kansas University and community causes. He was a member or First Presbyterian Church, where he served as an Elder.  A long-time member of the Lawrence Noon Rotary Club, Ned received the Paul Harris Fellow award in 2001.

He married Elizabeth A. Pile on June 27, 1945 in Winfield, Kansas and she survives him.  They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 2005.

Other survivors include one daughter, Elizabeth A. and her husband, Brian Conner, Salina, KS; one son, William C. and his wife, Mary, Downs, Kansas; four grandsons, David Conner, Christopher, Seth and Joel Cushing.

The family will receive friends following the funeral service at First Presbyterian Church on Thursday.

Memorial contributions can be made in his name to the Good Samaritan Fund at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor or Heart of America Hospice and may be sent in care of the mortuary.