James R. Cobler

James (Jim) Ray Cobler age 78, passed away April 30, 2018. He was born July 11, 1939 to Walter and Barbara (Wutherich) Cobler in Topeka, Kansas. He was the youngest of 11 children. He graduated from Topeka High School in 1957. He met Norma Edwards at Topeka High and went on to marry her on October 11, 1959.

In 1961 he graduated from Washburn University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. He then passed the CPA exam in 1964. In 1967 He was appointed by Governor Robert Docking to serve as the Director of the Division of Accounts and Reports for the State of Kansas. He would serve in this position for 27 years with 5 different governors. During this time, he was an integral part of establishing generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for state government by working with members of NASACT (National Association of State Auditors, Controllers, and Treasures). Jim served as the President of the NASACT organization in 1980. He developed the deferred compensation plan for the State of Kansas employees and was responsible for getting the legislation necessary to implement the deferred compensation plan passed. He was proud of this accomplishment because the plan was one of the first of its kind and he knew it met a need for helping people save for retirement.

But he was most proud of his family. Jim was a devoted family man. He and Norma loved spending time with their children and grandchildren and he was so enjoying getting to know his great-grandchildren. Through the years, they spent many weekends sitting in the bleachers watching baseball, basketball, or swimming or sitting in the audience watching plays or concerts. Jim loved to have his family gather at his house. The most anticipated gathering of the year at grandpa and grandma’s house was the 4 ^th of July. Every 4 ^th of July the family would celebrate Jim’s birthday by making homemade ice cream and having a big fireworks display. Jim supervised the cranking of the ice cream with each grandkid taking a turn on the crank. He would always take the final few cranks to test if the ice cream was done. Jim had a “drop everything” philosophy when it came to helping his children and grandchildren. He was there when and where he was needed, whether that was making dog houses or moving his grandsons to college. It was common to find one of the grandkids sitting at the table just talking to grandpa and listening as he passed on life lessons through his stories. Anyone who knew Jim, knew he was a storyteller. Many of his stories came from experiences from growing up in North Topeka and often involved some sort of dispute in which the Cobler brothers would defend one of their own. He had great love and admiration for his siblings. He credited much of his handyman skills to his brothers Bill, Clyde, and Larry. He would say “I’ve seen Clyde do it a hundred times” and “Bill always made this look so easy.” He recognized and appreciated the strengths of each of his brothers and sisters and the influence they had on his life.

Jim loved the outdoors. He was an avid hunter. He enjoyed teaching his sons, grandchildren and many others how to shoot. He enjoyed camping, fishing, water skiing, and snow skiing. He spent many weekends on the lake fishing and skiing and taught many family and friends how to water ski. He would boast of the time he took Aunt Rosalie on a sled ride behind the boat without ever getting her hair wet. He attempted to get up on a slalom for the last time when he was 70 years old and he said that he felt good except for the arthritis in his knee. He took up snow skiing at the age of 46 so he could ski with his kids. He was known to count how many runs down the mountain he could make in a day and calculate how much each run cost him.

Jim loved to travel. He and Norma made two trips to the mission field in Argentina and Paraguay. There he did everything from helping to repair the roof of the church to speaking to the youth group. He took the family on vacations every year, most often pulling the RV. He loved to explore, teach, and learn with his children, grandchildren and anyone who would listen. We have many memories of early morning hikes in the mountains and fishing in mountain streams. In 2005 Jim and Norma took the entire family for a week at Disney World. Jim did not hesitate to ride all the water slides with the grandkids during the Disney World adventure.

Jim gave his time, talent, and treasure to God as he was fully aware that these things were blessing from God. When Gregg, Scott and Michelle were teenagers, Jim and Norma spent several weeks every summer at church camp with the youth group. They would park the RV on the camp grounds and would welcome their youth group in when it got too hot, because the RV was air conditioned and to get popcorn after the evening service. He assisted missionaries with their accounting systems, many times spending hours on the phone with a missionary in another state or country teaching them to set up and use computer programs. He served as treasurer for his church for many years. He was a board member on the rural water board for 30 years and served as chairman of the water board for several years.

On May 21, 2000, Jim underwent a heart transplant. He loved to share the testimony of God healing him by giving him a new heart. He was a good steward of God’s blessing and took care of his new heart and his health with meticulous detail. In the 18 years of life after receiving his new heart, he was able to welcome three more grandchildren and four great-grandchildren to the family.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Norma Edwards Cobler of Topeka, two sons Gregg and his wife Diane of Gepp, Arkansas, Scott and his wife Debra of Meriden, Kansas, and a daughter Michelle of Kansas City, Kansas; Nine grandchildren Kayla Stutzman and her husband Ben, Rebekah, Joshua, Hannah, Joel, and Lydia Cobler, Noah, Benjamin, and Kaitlyn Stallbaumer. And four (soon to be 5) great grandchildren. He is also survived by three brothers, Walter Cobler, Robert Cobler, and Fred Rogers, and a sister Mary Warner. He was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Cliff, Bill, Clyde, and Larry and sisters Nellie, Geraldine, and Opal.

Funeral services will be 10:00 am on Thursday, May 10, 2018 in the morning at the Community Church in Topeka.  He will lie in state Wednesday from noon - 8 with visitation from 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. at the Davidson Funeral Home, 1035 N. Kansas Ave, Topeka Ks 66608.  Interment will be at the Rochester Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions can be made to Christian Assembly Church to support missions in Argentina, or to the Starkey Hearing Foundation.