Maurice Rex Luft, 83 of Sterling passed away Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at his home. Visitation will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 pm, Monday, December 9 at Chaney-Reager Funeral Home with family receiving friends from 5 – 7 p.m. Funeral service will be held at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 10 at Trinity Lutheran Church with burial to follow at Riverside Cemetery.

Maurice Rex Luft was born on December 5, 1935 in Sterling Colorado to Conrad and Pauline (Dermer) Luft Jr. He grew up in Sterling where he graduated from Sterling High School. He had attended one year of college at Valparaiso University but had to return home after a year when his mother died of breast cancer.

He met Janice Lee Holder and they ended up getting married on November 24, 1956 at the First English Lutheran Church in Sterling Colorado. They lived in Sterling where he farmed with his dad.

In 1969, they moved from Sterling to Schuyler Nebraska where Rex became a district sales manager for the Pioneer Seed Company which later became Garst Seeds. They lived there until 1977 when Rex got transferred and they moved to Scottsbluff Nebraska where he continued to work for the Garst Seed Company. He returned to Sterling in 1982 when he returned to help farm after his father passed away. He also continued to work for the Garst Seed Company as district sales manager and retired after 37 years with the company.

Rex joined the Sterling chapter of Young Farmers and became the first state president of the Young Farmers in 1970. In 1992, Lee (his son) also became the state president of the Young farmers. They recognized as the first father and son that had ever held that position in Young Farmers history. Rex continued to support the Young Farmers for many years.

Rex enjoyed fishing and reading westerns.   Rex liked to watch the Rockies as baseball was a big part of his years growing up, and also football. He certainly knew how to "hang one on" when he was with the Garst Seed Company and all the trips and meetings they went to. He told us many stories about what they would get into. He so loved to farm and was very happy when he returned to that in 1982. His biggest love was his family in which he would do anything for his kids. When the grandkids came along, that became even a greater love for him to be there for them as well and was so much a part of their lives. But his greatest love was his wife, Janice, to whom he spent 63 years with and was there for her every single day as she was for him.

He was preceded in death by his parents Conrad and Pauline Luft and stepmother Melba Luft, stepbrother Ted Tomes, and infant son Leon Luft.

Rex is survived by son Leland Charles Luft and wife Vicki of Anderson California as well as his daughter Rexann Briggs and husband Carl of Sterling Colorado; three grandchildren – Chelsie Le Bergstrom of Gibbon Nebraska, Lacie Ranae Briggs of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Zachary Briggs of Sterling Colorado; and three great grandchildren – Riley and Reid Bergstrom of Gibbon Nebraska and Kacey Jayde Briggs of Sterling Colorado. Rex is also survived by two sisters – Beverly Donovan of Windsor Colorado and Ireta Sanberg of Issaquah Washington.

Memorial contributions can be made to the American Heart Association or Trinity Lutheran Church in Sterling Colorado in care of Chaney-Reager Funeral Home, PO Box 1046, Sterling, CO 80751.