Cletus Nuffer

Hills, MN Cletus Nuffer, age 84 of Hills, MN died Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at the Tuff Memorial Home in Hills. Funeral service will be 11:00 AM, Friday, Aug. 7th at the United Methodist Church in Luverne, MN, with Pastor Mary Dodgson officiating. Burial will follow at Pleasant View Cemetery in rural Hills. Visitation will be Thursday, Aug. 6th from 2:00 to 8:00 PM, with the family present from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Jurrens Funeral Home of Hills. Also there will be a 7:30 PM prayer service Thursday evening at the funeral home. Cletus Verdell Nuffer was born August 27, 1924 on the family farm to Elmer and Effie (Olson) Nuffer. He received his education grades 1-5 at the District 19 Country School and from grades 6-12 at the Hills Public School. Cletus played clarinet in the high school band. He entered the military and served in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1945 and trained as a gunners mate on dive bombers. Seaman First Class Nuffer was honorably discharged after the war and returned home to Hills. On December 12, 1946 he was united in marriage to Patricia Qualley at Fairmont, MN. To this union six children were born. Cletus and Pat began farming a half mile west from where he was born. In 1952 he bought 80 acres of bare ground and homesteaded a place. He moved a house in, built the outbuildings and planted the grove. In 1962, Cletus and Pat moved back to where he was born on the family farm. There the couple remained until his semi-retirement from farming in 1991. He and Pat moved to Luverne for two years but town living didnt agree with Cletus. They built a new house on the Olson farmstead and remained there until ill health forced him to move to the Tuff Memorial Home in Hills. Both the Nuffer and Olson farms are still in the family and both are registered Century Farms. As his family was growing, besides farming, there were times when his family needed extra money. During these times Cletus drove school bus, worked for Bert Berghorst shelling corn, and drove Martin Township maintainer moving snow. He was a 64 year member of the Hills American Legion, served on the Hills school board and various boards and committees of his church, Martin Township board, a member of the Hills Co-op elevator board and Pleasant View Cemetery board. Cletus is survived by his wife of 62 years, Pat; daughter, Janice Nuffer of Hills, MN; Mary (Rick) Martens of Madison, SD; George (Jo) Nuffer of Hills, MN; Allen (Sue) Nuffer of Hills, MN; Cleo Ann (Mark) Granneman of Northfield, MN; and Beth (Morris) Fick of Luverne, MN; 18 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, Elmer and Effie (Olson) Nuffer; and granddaughter Jamie Nuffer.