GERALD “JERRY” VOORHEES

LAMAR-Services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Konantz Warden Funeral Home for Gerald “Jerry” Dean Voorhees, 88, Lamar, who died Wednesday, May 11, 2016, at Barton County Memorial Hospital, following an extended illness. Pastor Robb Hodson will officiate. Committal service and burial will be held at Howell Cemetery, with full military honors.

Visitation will be held prior to the service, beginning at 1 p.m.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Barton County Senior Center or Nathan's Place.

The obituary may be viewed and condolences sent online at www.konantzwarden.com.

Survivors include his wife, Nell Voorhees, of the home; a brother-in-law, Floyd Dale Moore; a sister-in-law, Edith Voorhees and too many nieces and nephews to mention.

Mr. Voorhees was born Aug. 26, 1927, near Golden City, to Frank and Myrtle May (Francis) Voorhees. He was the second youngest of nine children in the family.

After high school he married Eva Fanning, daughter of Joe and Eula Fanning of Lamar. He soon went to work for the San Francisco Railroad as a trackman and in 1951 he entered the Navy, serving in the Pacific during the Korean War as a Machinist First Mate. When he returned home he went to work for Charles Schultz, who had an appliance store on the Lamar square. While working for Schultz Appliance he went back to school at PSU and received a degree in industrial mechanical engineering. At the same time he and his wife and his brother, Ivan Voorhees Sr., took care of their parents. With his degree he soon went to work for Lawn Boy Tool and Die, working there until they closed in 1963. He then went to work for Fairchild Printing in Joplin, which later became King Press and he was a machine shop supervisor until retiring at the age of 62.

He was close to his brothers and sisters and their families. Though he and his wife Eva had no children of their own, he was an uncle to many nieces and nephews who remember him fondly. He was always around at Christmas and was known to take them sledding on the hood of an old car. They knew that they could always count on him if they needed him.

He pursued retirement with equal zeal, enjoying traveling, fishing and bowling with his family. His wife Eva died Nov. 1, 2002. He later met and married Nell Finley and they continued to fish, eat out and enjoyed their retirement together. He was an active member of the VFW Post 3691, participating in many veterans honors services at the graveside of his comrades in arms. He was especially proud to sound the Taps on the bugle. He was a member of the First Baptist Church.