Oscar Ulrich Jr., 104, of Mexico, died at 2:20 p.m. Sunday April 3, 2016, at his home in Mexico.

A graveside service will be at 1 p.m. Friday April 8, 2016, at Greenlawn Cemetery in Bowling Green. Visitation will be Thursday from 4-6 p.m. at Pickering Funeral Home.

Oscar Ellsworth Ulrich, Jr., son of Ollie Belle Zumwalt and Oscar Ellsworth Ulrich, Sr., was born in Hutton Valley, Missouri on May 29, 1911 and passed away on April 3, 2016 in Mexico, Missouri.

Oscar was a first hand witness to the history of rural Missouri and he enjoyed sharing its early development. Born in 1911 in Howell County, Oscar's family moved their household goods in a covered wagon to Laclede County in 1923 and then to the Bowling Green community in 1926.

In 1928 and 1929 he apprenticed and operated a shoe repair shop in Bowling Green and later worked for Lewis Harris in Pike County operating a General Store in Farber and later owning his own General Store in Curryville for 10 years.

Oscar was creative. In 1942 Oscar designed and personally built the first indoor running water system and indoor bathroom in Curryville, using a 500 gallon can for a septic tank. He also built the first Bar-B-Que pit in Curryville, bringing one of his neighbors to quip, "Don't know what to think about that Oscar; he eats in the yard and craps in the house!"

His General Store served the community well, offering can goods, tobacco, sack feed, ice, Standard Oil Gasoline and the Greyhound Bus Stop. Oscar bought poultry, eggs, and cream from the local farmers, re-selling the items in St. Louis. In the evenings he also repaired automobiles in a building behind his store. In addition to this daily routine, Oscar also was the substitute U.S. Mail carrier for Lincoln Kilby, on a 46 mile route. This he performed in his "trusty" Model A Ford Roadster, "Nellie". As the saying goes, "Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow could keep Oscar and Nellie from their appointed rounds!" Oscar had many colorful stories of his adventures on the mail route from slices of fresh baked pie in the mail box to running out of gas which caused him to borrow lantern coal oil from a farmer to burn in Nellie to get her back to town.

Drafted into the Navy in 1944, he spent 16 months making submarine torpedoes and Howitzer 105mm armament at the Chevrolet Assembly Plant in St. Louis which had been converted into a shell ammunition plant.

In 1954 Oscar moved his family from Curryville to Mexico and remained there for 10 years, operating a service station and the first motel in Mexico, adjacent to the Saddlehorse Café and later owning the Cities Service Station and Garage.

In 1964, with his family grown, he went to Spokane, WA, to visit his sister, Ellen and decided to stay. While in Spokane, Oscar and Buz Rodseth founded Ram Engines, the largest producer of re-manufactured automotive engines in the northwest. Oscar was revered in the northwest for his ability to produce resilient racing heads for powerful engines. Eventually Ram Engines was acquired by Hi-Tech Engines and is now the largest re-manufacturer of automotive engines in Pacific northwest today. Later, Oscar built nineteen "99" stores, a post office, two pet stores, and a dry cleaner in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Oscar remained in Spokane for 33 years, returning to Mexico in 1997. Not interested in retirement, he worked for Auffenburg Ford, the Audrain Medical Center and best of all, the Hawthorne Elementary School. Oscar finally left full time employment at the Elementary School at age 97 because of arthritis in his arm, but he still enjoyed returning to the school to repair broken items for the teachers and staff.

Oscar paid into Social Security from its inception in 1936 until 2007 a total of 71 years and still had his original Social Security card.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012 Oscar celebrated one of the greatest days of his life. He was invited to participate in the Honor Flight Program honoring WWII Veterans. Oscar held the distinction of being Central Missouri Honor Flight's oldest veteran to participate. May 8th, 73 WWII veterans, flew from Columbia to Baltimore-Washington Airport courtesy of Southwest Airlines and then traveled by bus to Washington, DC visiting the WWII War Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Wall and Arlington Cemetary. Oscar was quoted saying "Those guys that traveled with me in the wheelchairs, that laid out in the mud and looked down the wrong end of a riffle barrel, they are the ones that deserve the honor."

Oscar was preceded in death by his parents, two wives, Mary Katherine Bunten and Jane Ellen Hinson; three sisters, Ellen, Jessie, and Anna May, and five brothers, Guy, Roy, Raymond, Walter and William Frederick and his beloved Boston Terrier "Sparky".

Oscar is survived by four sons: Ellis (Nancy) and Gary (Penny) of Jacksonville, FL, Carl in Center, and Vernon (Peggy) in Mexico. Three grandchildren: Kevin, Ft. Worth, TX, Dagney, Memphis, TN, and Vernon, Jr., Mexico, and three great-grand children: Elizabeth and Tyler, Ft. Worth and Gabreal, Mexico. One brother: Earl Richard (Shirley), Bowling Green and two sister's-in-law, Maxine Ulrich and Lucille Ulrich of Bowling Green and numerous nieces and nephews.

Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names. --Proverb

Oscar was a longtime member of the Moose Lodge. At his request the family asks that memorials be given to Mooseheart Child City and School. They may be sent in care of Pickering Funeral Home, 403 N. Western, Mexico, MO 65265.