SPEARVILLE, KANSAS - Glenn Joseph Torline was born in Spearville, Kansas, on April 2, 1934, the sixth of nine children of J. Leo Torline and Mary Theresa (Mages) Torline. He married Mary Patricia (“Pat”) Coppersmith in 1958, and they raised five children together. Glenn went home to our Lord on October 11, 2026, following a brief illness.

As a child, Glenn grew up on his family’s farm near Windthorst, Kansas and graduated from Windthorst High School in 1953. He then attended St. Mary’s of the Plains College for two years before transferring to St. Benedict’s College (now Benedictine College) in Atchison, Kansas. There, he met the love of his life, Pat. After getting married, the two moved to Spearville, where they raised their family and lived the rest of their lives.

That rootedness in and love of place shaped Glenn’s life. He began his professional career at E-Z Fold Manufacturing before moving on to Crustbuster/Speed King, Inc. where he worked for almost 30 years and eventually became the manager of manufacturing. Glenn’s true calling, though, was farming. Although he had always farmed in his spare time, he began farming full time in 1989. He loved the work and was devoted to his land. Later in life, he described the decision to “stop working for the other guy” and farm full time as the best career decision he ever made.

Outside of work, Glenn poured himself into the broader Spearville community. He served for 22 years on the town’s first Recreation Commission, during which time he played an instrumental role in building the town’s swimming pool, baseball field, tennis courts, and Greenstreet Park. He was a lifetime member of the Knights of Columbus and spent decades serving on the parish council and numerous boards of directors. More recently, Glenn helped raise money to establish Spearville’s current retirement home.

At home, Glenn lived a life in service to his family. He was especially devoted to Pat, his wife of 62 years. He cared for her entirely as she became more and more dependent at the end of her life, and he diligently visited her grave every day on his morning walk after her passing in 2019. She was the love of his life, and he missed her greatly.

Glenn took great joy in raising five wonderful children with Pat, reflecting later in life that those early child-rearing years were the most enjoyable of his life. Although he worked long and hard hours, he prioritized maintaining a steadfast presence in their lives as they grew. He shared his love of the outdoors and farming with all of his children. Three of his sons played football at Benedictine College, and Glenn and Pat would travel 6 hours to Atchison for almost all of their games, often driving there and back on the same day.

True to their Benedictine roots, Glenn and Pat adopted the Rule of St. Benedict, which instructs that “all guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ.” Glenn and Pat opened their home and welcomed countless guests, often for holidays. Many of those guest became part of their extended family. They always looked forward to sharing a meal and visiting with those that came to Spearville to see them and their children.

Although he always felt needed at home and on the farm, Glenn also loved to travel. He and Pat traveled to Mexico, Canada, the British Isles, and many places in the U.S., but Glenn described his favorite vacation spot as “anywhere his kids were.” He and Pat loved to visit their son, Mike, in New Jersey and their daughter, Anne, when she was living in the Virgin Islands. Although he could not swim, Glenn would wade chest-deep out into the ocean, sporting his green Pioneer hat, a pina colada in one hand, and two floaties on each arm.

Once Glenn became a grandpa, his favorite trips were those he took to visit his grandkids. This was no surprise; he was made to be a grandpa. He was a child at heart, and as he aged he leaned into the playfulness that his grandchildren brought to his life. Once, when family friends visited Spearville and stayed at Glenn and Pat’s house, they awoke in the morning to sounds of farm animals. When they looked around, though, they saw no animals. Instead, they saw Glenn—on his hands and knees, neighing and cock-a-doodle-dooing for his grandkids’ amusement.

He relished sharing the places that he loved with his grandchildren (and all visitors). They spent countless hours at the “shed” on his farm, where Glenn had built an office (equipped with a full kitchen, an air conditioner, and a wood stove), and let the grandkids paint, drive around an old lawn mower, or ride on the tractor. Other times he took them to see the stained-glass windows in the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Windthorst, the wind turbines on his land, his wheat and milo crops, or the homeplace where his ancestors first settled in Kansas. All the while, Glenn told them stories about their heritage.

Some of Glenn’s grandfather antics were less mild. One day, he showed up at the house with his four-wheeler. He had strapped a plywood board to the back and drilled two plastic children’s chairs to it. He expected his grandkids to climb on up and take a ride. (Some of them did, while others were not permitted by their parents.) Upon receiving some “safety” complaints, Glenn rigged up something he believed was unobjectionable: two car seats with seat belts attached to the back, and motorcycle helmets for the kids. He added a metal bar around the top, taped an American flag to each corner, and they were off, chasing rattlesnakes and jackrabbits around the shed.

Above all and through all the ups and downs of a long life well lived, Glenn loved the Lord and devoted his life to his Catholic faith. He was “prayer and work” personified. He attended daily Mass, said an (at least) daily rosary, prayed diligently for others’ intentions as well as his own, became a Benedictine Oblate in his late 80s, and took seriously his obligations to the Church. He had a special respect for priests and religious, and he always took it upon himself to welcome any new priest to Spearville. Most recently, he grew very close to Father Aneesh and Father John, both of whom became like family to him.

Through his faith, Glenn believed that he had received a special calling to accompany the sick and dying at the end of their lives. He served as a hospice volunteer for over 20 years and, legend has it, cared for more patients than any other hospice volunteer in Kansas. Several years ago, one of his patients was diagnosed with Covid and was about to die. The patient’s family could not be there, so Glenn donned a personal protection suit and stayed at the man’s bedside in his final hours so that he would not die alone. This was not a one-off occurrence; Glenn would decline to travel, even over holidays, if he believed one of his patients was close to death. Though Glenn was dedicated to accompanying his patients during their death, and those times were often heavy, his typical visits were more lighthearted. He loved to bring his grandkids along, and he always encouraged the patients he visited to go on a walk with him or to let him wheel them around outside. “Fresh air is good for the soul,” he would say.

It certainly was good for Glenn’s. Starting in his 70s, he walked four miles every morning, most days leaving the house long before the sun rose. Later in life, Glenn said he wanted to “never retire” and stay active his whole life. That he did. Against the advice of his children, he never stopped climbing onto his roof, digging up trees, building fences, and helping with harvest. By God’s grace—and perhaps with an assist from all that fresh air—Glenn had the good fortune to live a vigorous and active life all the way up until just weeks before his passing.

Glenn and Pat had a Latin phrase—a motto of the Benedictine Order that was very important to both of them—inscribed on the inside of their wedding bands: “Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus.” It means: “That in all things God may be glorified.” Glenn’s time on this side of eternity lived up to that mission. Rooted in place, devoted to the land and to the community sustained by it, dedicated to and in turn loved by his family, and faithful until the end, Glenn Torline glorified the Lord by his life. He will be greatly missed.

Glenn was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Patricia (Coppersmith) Torline, and his eldest son, Michael Gerard Torline. He leaves behind his sons, Terry (Gretchen) Torline, Paul (Karen) Torline, and Steve (Michelle) Torline; his daughter, Anne Torline; his grandchildren, Blake (Lucy) Torline, Hanna (Tim) Bradley, Maddie (Austin) Rose, Gabby Torline, Jack (Mel) Torline, Kathryn Torline, Sam Torline, Danica Torline, John Glenn Torline, and Frances Torline; and seven greatgrandchildren, John Thomas, Clara, Elsie, James, Elizabeth, Annabelle, and Benedict.

Relatives and friends are invited to gather on November 20 at St. John the Baptist Church in Spearville, Kansas, at 1:30 p.m., for a rosary and visitation. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 2:00 p.m. with an interment at St. John Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to Hospice of the Prairie would be deeply appreciated.

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