Vernon L. NutterMcPherson, KS

Vernon L. Nutter, 86, of McPherson and formerly of Canton, died July 25, 2026 at his home in McPherson.

He was a retired welder for Femco, Inc., McPherson and had been a McPherson resident since 1998, moving from Canton.

He was born August 10, 1939 in McPherson, the son of Robert and Lois (Hunt) Nutter. On June 25, 1960, he was united in marriage to Luella A. Vogts at the Immanuel Lutheran Church, rural Canton. To this union were born three children, Kevin, Brent and Sheila.

Vernon was a member of Grace Lutheran Church, McPherson.

Survivors include his wife Luella; his two sons, Kevin and wife, Debby of Ramona, Oklahoma and Brent and wife. Lori of McPherson; daughter Sheila McLean and husband, Andy of McPherson; 6 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a brother Don, a sister Lorita and a grandson, Benjamin McLean.

Over the years, Vern worked many places like Consolidated Plastics; Danny Rupp's Mobile Station; the City of McPherson as a lineman, boiler man, and light plant worker; and Hesston Corp.; before finding his long time career at Femco for 33 years. There he worked as a welder and QA/QC man. When at home out on the farm in Canton, you would find him tinkering in the garage with a kid in tow, or in his "Saw Shop" sharpening all kinds of blades in 100°+ heat, or up at 4 am in the morning heading to Marion Reservoir to fish. Vern was a large, no-nonsense man with a full dark beard and crew cut in his early years. He then became a soft-spoken, funny, white-haired, kind heart when grandkids started coming around. He never claimed to be an educated man, but he surely knew a lot about a lot of different things. The family never bought many things new when the kids were growing up, because everything could be fixed, and there were not many things that he couldn't fix. And, there was never a snowdrift that could keep him down. Just like in his life, he would back up and hit it again until he could get through. His kids carried that with them in their lives as well.

Besides his wife, Vern had a second love in his life - music. His world centered around music – listening to it, playing it, and sharing it with others. He spent hours upon countless hours in his spare room practicing his cherished steel guitar, contorting his face into crazy shapes and not wanting to be bothered. What most didn't know about Vern was that he never learned how to read music, he played everything by ear. He would spend weekends with the band and their wives in tow, playing music for weddings and other gigs. The bands he played with were The Galaxies, The Country Squires, and The Countrymen. Some of the members of the bands who shared his love of music were Milford Wedel, Jimmy Becker, Lee Ratzlaff, Ernie Gibson, Jack "Kemosabe" Benton, and Mickey Decker, just to name a few. Even long after he stopped performing gigs, and band members started to slowly fade away, him and Milford would still find time, both in their 80's, to "pick" out in Milford's backyard soundproof music shed. Once Milford passed away, and there was nobody else left, the cover was put on the steel guitar and the music stopped. However, he still continued to share music at church, singing in the joy of being one of God's children.

Cremation has taken place. A graveside service will be held at Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery at a later date.

A memorial has been established with the Grace Lutheran Church, McPherson, in care of Olson’s Mortuary, P.O. Box 355, Canton, Kansas 67428.