Obituary: Harley Clayton Gfeller

Services for Harley Clayton Gfeller, 84, Russell, will be at 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2, 2005, at Trinity United Methodist Church in Russell. Private burial will be later in Russell City Cemetery.

Mr. Gfeller died Monday, Nov. 28, 2005, at St. John Nursing Center in Victoria. He was born July 24, 1921, on his family’s farm in Winona, the son of Louis A. and Lida (Waldmeier) Gfeller.

He was baptized into the Winona Methodist Church and attended schools in Winona, where he graduated from high school in 1938. After graduation, he moved to Wichita, where he worked for the Boeing Company. In 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving three years in the Pacific Theater during World War II as a member of the 345th Squadron of the 499th Bomber Group, 5th Army Air Corp. He was discharged in 1945 as a staff sergeant.

He returned to Winona and began farming.

Mr. Gfeller married Jeanette D. Hamilton on Oct. 17, 1946, in Winona.

In 1956, he took a job with the Agricultural Stabilization Conservation Service. In 1958, he moved his family to Russell, where he managed the Russell County ASCS office. He was promoted in 1974 to district director for north-central Kansas. Mr. Gfeller retired in 1985.

He and his wife moved to a farm south of Tonganoxie in 1990, and the couple returned to Russell last summer.

Survivors include his wife, of the home; four sons, Roger, Fresno, Calif., Craig, Overland Park, Warren, Shawnee, and Ron, Russell; two daughters, Gayle Gfeller, Seattle, and Anita Wiley, Leavenworth; a sister, Norma Washburn, Oakley; 20 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. A son, Lloyd, preceded him in death.

Friends may call from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005, at Pohlman-Heise Mortuary, Russell, where the family will receive friends from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.

The family suggests memorial contributions to Trinity United Methodist Church’s permanent endowment fund or to Southwind Hospice, sent in care of Pohlman-Heise Mortuary, 610 N. Maple St., Russell 67665.