Adolf E. Moeckl
March 30, 1937 ~ June 22, 2023
Adolf Edwin Moeckl was born March 30, 1937 to Edwin and Erna Nee Bittner Möckl in Kammersgrun, Czechoslovakia. He is survived by his wife, Rogene Moeckl and their daughter, Jacqueline Davis, Wichita, KS; brother and sister-in-law Otto and Hilda Möckl, Warmisried, Germany; brother and sister-in-law Bernd and Angelika Möckl, Neustrelitz, Germany with 3 nephews and 2 nieces and their children all in Germany.He is preceded in death by his mother, Erna Nee Bittner Möckl, father, Edwin Möckl and stepmother, Anneliese Möckl.In 1945, his father was away fighting in WWII and at 8 years old the Russians came in and forced his mother, brother, and him to leave out of their home with basically the clothes on their backs and small backpack of belongings and took over their land. He was shipped on a train from Czechoslovakia to Bavaria, Germany, near Munich (West Germany). He lived, with his mother and brother in a barn hayloft for a year. During his childhood, he was separated from his father for many years who ended up living in East Germany behind the Iron Curtain after the war. As he got a little older, he found out he was good at making and fixing things and just had a natural talent using his hands. Eventually he started working on bicycles and 2-cylinder motorcycles and found out he was good at that and enjoyed it, so he decided to attend the Harbour Technician School in Mannheim, Germany to learn auto mechanics. At the age of 20, he graduated from Hüber Mechanical School in Ottobeuren, Germany with the intention of staying and working in Germany, but found there were not any good jobs available where he was living so him and 2 friends went to Australia to find work.In Australia he worked at a factory but did not like the monotony of it all and doing the same thing day after day so left and went to a Volkswagen dealership to work on cars. At the time, they did not have a position open, so he helped work on cars on the side for free. After about a week the manager and other workers noticed how hard of a worker he was and how good he was at fixing things that he got hired on and became one of the best mechanics they had while he worked there.It was always his dream to come to America, so he wrote to his previous teacher in Germany to ask if there were any mechanic positions available in America. His teacher contacted Fred Foergg who he worked for at European Car Company in Wichita, KS years later, and told him there was a position available in Hays, KS and made plans to move to America and work in Kansas.He arrived in America on August 11, 1964 at 27 years of age and started working in Hays, KS at Dreiling Motors Volkswagen. To his surprise he did not have to learn English because all the workers spoke German, until he met his future wife, Rogene at a wedding dance in a small town of Park, Kansas, which him and his friends were not invited to. They heard music and were curious as to what was going on and went inside. Of course, she did not know German so now he had to learn proper American English.They got married on April 24, 1967 and had a happy, wonderful, fairytale life for 56 years. They had one daughter, Jacqueline born in 1968.In 1978 he decided he wanted to share his love for cooking, so he opened a restaurant in Hays called “Adolf’s Bavarian Haus”. It was open for a few months but decided it was way more work than being a mechanic, so it was closed, which led him back to his sponsor from earlier in his life (Fred Foergg) who hired him and in 1979 the family moved to Wichita, KS.In 1987, Rogene won a trip to Hawaii and they went. He loved it so much that he got a job and the family moved there about 6 months later. He worked for BMW of Honolulu for several years then for another European BMW auto shop with a friend he had met who was originally from Poland. They lived there for 23 years before moving back to Wichita in 2009 to be closer to family.He always enjoyed helping others whenever he could and enjoyed baking, cooking, gardening, building and fixing things around the house, traveling as he went all over International and the USA. He always loved spending time serving afternoon cake and coffee while visiting and spending time with family and friends. He especially enjoyed playing and spending time with children of any age.His last moments were spent outside in the backyard tending to his blackberry bushes doing what he loved to do…. What a long and fulfilled life he led for 86 wonderful years! We will all miss him greatly every day! God bless him!Visitation will be from 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm, Friday, July 7, 2023; Funeral Mass will be at 10:00 am, Saturday, July 8, 2023, both at Church of the Resurrection Catholic Church.
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I met Adolph nearly 11 years ago when he would shop at Aldi. He was a very kind, polite and funny man. He would occasionally bring me homemade desserts with a big smile on his face. I will miss seeing him in the store. May his family find comfort in hearing how much Adolph meant to others, knowing how much he meant to them. I will miss you Adolph and rest in peace. Kim