Vincent A. Stonestreet Family Fund

Vince was born in Kansas City, KS and was a lifelong resident of Wyandotte County. With only a high school diploma (Wyandotte High School) he was a successful businessman and a wiz with numbers. Vince worked for Railway Express, Wonder Bread, Andrew Jergens Company and eventually was the owner of L&V Outlet in Leavenworth, KS for 35 years. He was funny, fiery and never the fool.

He was generous with his family and quietly generous to many others. He loved his wife Jamey and she remained his number one priority up until his death. He always had his kids’ back, no matter the circumstance. To meet Vince was to know Vince. He lived his life with a true compass of right and wrong and treated people how they treated him. He instilled a strong work ethic in all of those around him and worked hard for everything he had. He loved cows and pigs and was an avid supporter of 4-H. He was a collector of many things, but most notably of Native American art, a passion inspired by his uncle, the late Father Niles Kraft.

Vince is preceded in death by his father and mother, Leonard and Louise Stonestreet.

Vince is survived by his loving wife of 57 years, Jamey; children, Paul (Donna) Stonestreet, Mauria Stonestreet, and Eric (Lindsay) Stonestreet; grandchildren Morgan, Garrett, and Brooke; brothers, Leonard (Delores), Paul (Jan), his favorite sisters, Martha and Jeanie; and his caretaker and right hand man, Darcy.

And shocker, in true Vince fashion, he didn’t want any services and let’s be honest, he’d be irate we even put this in the paper. Rather, his hope was you’d gather family, put a bouquet of flowers on the table and share stories about your friendship with him.

Vince was friends with the assistant manager of the theatre where Jamey worked part-time during high school and then junior college. He saw that “cute girl in the ticket box” and that was it for the both of them.

Vince and Jamey courted for two years before they married, and for the next 57 years they worked hard and raised their three children, Paul, Mauria, and Eric, staying close to their roots in Wyandotte County where Jamey shares she was, “born, bred, and wed.”

“He loved unconditionally. Was generous to a fault. Protective. Funny. Complicated. Fair. Reluctantly cool. Goal-oriented. The hardest-working man I ever knew.” – Jamey, Paul, Mauria, Eric

“He was funny. He loved to joke around and I stuck in there and gave it right back.” – wife Jamey

“One moment has always stuck with me, I was probably about seven years old. It was raining hard. We came to a stop sign where there was a blind man who lived in that area who was trying to get across the street. My dad got out in the pouring rain to help that man get across the street; and I NEVER forgot that. I have always thought of that as the night I learned about compassion.” – son Paul

“He had a friend who had a lot of health issues and was down on hard times. He installed garage doors and my dad called him out to put a new garage door on his shop. Did he need it? No. But dad called him out to put this garage door up and when he was finished he handed dad a bill. My dad wrote out a check and his friend said, ‘Vince, you misread the bill. This is way too much.’ Dad said, ‘no, this is what I want to pay for the door.’ Dad was saying, ‘your time and your services are worth this much to me.’ I just thought, man, that’s such a great thing… all wrapped up in one moment. He helped a friend out but didn’t want to make him feel like he was just giving him something.” – son Eric

“There are so many things he did for others that we didn’t even know about until after he was gone. I have a friend who is a special education teacher and she would take her students out for a ‘mobility day’ where they would shop for things they needed in the classroom. Dad would buy lunch for all of them but didn’t want her to tell anyone he did it, including me. That was just the kind of person he was.” – daughter Mauria

“Fair is a very important word that I think of when I think of him, and it means so much. Fair was how he was. He treated everyone he met the same – everyone had the same opportunity with him, starting with a blank slate. I can honestly say if you didn’t like my dad, you were getting a reflection of yourself because he treated you like you treated him. If you were a good person and were good to others, he would be good to you. If you were mean and hurtful to others, well you would probably get a Vince you did not care for.” – son Eric

“He was optimistic. I looked to him as my rock if I needed to talk. He worried a lot about things, but he offered solutions. And he would defend us to the end.” – wife Jamey

“He was a self-made man. He wanted to provide a better life for his kids than he had, and he did!” – daughter Mauria

“I think he wanted no more than every parent wants – an easier life for their kid. Never to worry or strain. He wanted us to be comfortable.” – son Paul

“He was dedicated to his family. Everything he did, he did for us.” – wife Jamey

“When I was in college my first degree wasn’t in education, it was in mass communications. I first worked in sales… and I hated it. My dad said, ‘why don’t you go back to school and do something else?’ He always wanted his kids to like what they did and supported us. So he and my mom told me to figure out what I wanted to do. A friend worked in special education and I spent a lot of time in her classroom. She encouraged me to go back to school, where I took a class in school psych and they had one chapter on autism and it fascinated me. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do.” – daughter Mauria

“4-H specifically taught me so much. It wasn’t always fun being the only kid in Friday night football that had to wake up Saturday mornings and feed my animals, but dad would always help out. The reason we got pigs is that some of my friends were talking about helping their dads and I told my dad I wanted to get a job, too. He said, ‘you don’t need to get a job, we’ll create one for you.’ The next weekend we went and got pigs and he said, ‘Here’s your job. Your job is now in your backyard.’ And so from the fourth grade on, I had pigs to take care of. It taught me a lot about life.” – son Eric

“The county fair was what we most looked forward to. I had a grand champion steer. We worked hard for that and it taught us a lot of things about responsibility – take care of your animal, make sure they have water. The money that we made at the fair went toward my college education. It got me through four years!” – son Paul

“How confused my dad had to be to have a son who loved to play football and raise pigs and play the drums, who also wanted to wear wigs and put on his mom’s makeup. He had to wonder, ‘who is this kid?’ But he just let me do what I wanted to do. Even though he’s this big husky dude who didn’t understand what it was but he just found humor in his son and said, ‘of course you should do that’. The fact that he didn’t think I was a weird kid… they [my parents] found the uniqueness in my personality that allowed me to figure out what I wanted to do.” – son Eric

“There is this thing that happened when I was in high school. I came home and told him one of my teachers was picking on me. He said, ‘well, I’ll go up and talk to him.’ So I’m thinking, ‘my dad is going to go up and show this teacher who’s boss and I’m gonna win!’ Dad did go up and talk to him, came home, sat me down and said, ‘I’m going to say something to you and I don’t want you to ever forget it. This will be the last time you ever put egg on my face.’ My dad was willing to go up there to school because I told him something and he was willing to defend me, but when he got up there the teacher informed my dad that I hadn’t turned in any of my homework assignments, gotten F’s on all my pop quizzes, was being nothing but disruptive in class, and he had it all documented. At that moment in time, my dad didn’t defend his son, my dad switched to the correct side and that was the teacher’s perspective, and leveled me when he got home. ‘You don’t get to use me like that, now it’s him and me.’ That was an eye-opening moment for me.” – son Eric

“He just believed in hard work. Put your head down, do the work, and you will succeed.” – daughter Mauria

“He believed in the underdog and didn’t like to see anyone taken advantage of. He made secret donations and gestures to all kinds of people – some of whom I don’t think ever knew it was him. And probably still don’t!” – son Paul

“My dad would tell me a story about when my Grandpa Leonard died – he apologized to my dad for not being able to leave him anything behind. My dad just told him, ‘You left behind so much more than money and that’s the desire to go to work and know what it means to create your own life.’ My dad wanted to build wealth and things. He wanted to leave behind money to take care of mom and us if we needed it. But he lived a life inspired by his own dad which was work ethic and doing what was right.” – son Eric

Vince first tried sushi while visiting Eric in Los Angeles. Eric told him, “what was the rule with cauliflower at our house? You don’t have to like it but you have to try it.” Well, Vince ended up loving sushi. “More than how much he liked sushi, he loved telling everyone how much he liked sushi. It was so funny to be with him and hear him say, ‘well, Tom, have you ever tried raw tuna’?” – son Eric

“Speak up for what you think is right. Never let someone take advantage of you or anyone else.” – son Paul

“Keep your bills straight. And by that I mean keep your bills facing the right way in your wallet. I still do this and now my kids do it, too.” – son Paul

“He loved kids. He would feel really good that we are helping others. It’s kind of like paying it forward, and that’s what Vince did all his life.” – wife Jamey