Max Edwin Mattingly, 77, stockman, of Dexter, Kansas, passed away Friday morning, April 19, 2013 at Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, surrounded by his family.

Max was born September 22, 1935 in Anthony, Kansas, the son of John Sr. and Gladys (Smith) Mattingly. He was raised on a farm west of Caldwell, Kansas where he began working at an early age tending livestock, working horses and driving tractors alongside his mother, father and brother, John, Jr. He got his early education at Blackstone Rural school and graduated from Caldwell High School in 1953. As a youth, he was a 4Her showing Hereford cattle and Duroc hogs.

After high school, he worked construction jobs, helping to build the southern part of the Kansas Turnpike and concrete grain elevators in Argonia, Wellington and Arkansas City. He also worked on oil drilling rigs, drilling wells from Medicine Lodge to Hill City. In 1957 to 1959, he served his country in the United States Army stationed in Fort Benning, Georgia.

On April 21, 1961 he married Bonita Hadley in Wichita, Kansas. They had two children, Robert Dean and Donna Renee.

In 1961 he began his farming and ranching career on a farm southwest of Freeport, Kansas, where he raised crops, Hereford cattle and hogs. In 1968 he moved his family to their present location just south of Dexter where they have continued to farm and ranch the past 45 years.

He was a member of the Kansas Livestock Association, the Kansas Hereford Association, the Dexter Masonic Lodge and the National Rifle Association.

His family includes:
His wife: Bonita Mattingly of Dexter;
His son: Bob Mattingly of Dexter;
His daughter: Donna Mattingly of Winfield;
His brother: John Mattingly Jr. of Anthony;
His sister-in-law: Joanne Snapp of Wichita;
His beloved dog: Jake of Dexter; and
Many nieces, nephews, family and friends.

In addition to his parents, Max was preceded in death by 2 sisters-in-law, Delores Mattingly and Beverly Beatty, and his mother-in-law, Margaret Knowlton.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M., Tuesday, April 23, 2013 at Miles Funeral Service in Winfield. Interment will follow at the Dexter Cemetery. Friends may call at the funeral home on Monday evening, April 22, 2013 from 4 to 8. The family will greet visitors from 6 to 8 that evening.

Memorials have been established in Max's name for St. Jude's Children's Hospital or for the Wounded Warrior Program. Contributions may be made through the funeral home.