John L. Wehrli passed away on Tuesday, September 4, 2018 at Solomon Valley Manor in Stockton, Kansas at the age of 92. He was born on June 5, 1926 in Barton County, Kansas, on the family farm just north of Beaver, to the late Rudolph Jacob and Laura Mary (Frederick) Wehrli. He grew up in Barton and Russell counties graduating from Bunker Hill High School with the Class of 1945. On August 14, 1947 he was united in marriage to Geraldine Lantz in Russell, Kansas. They were blessed with two children, Gerald and Dereth.
John was a hardworking man who loved and cared for his family. A “Jack-of-all-trades,” over the course of his life, he drilled water wells, was a cable tool driller, welder, blacksmith, police officer, and deputy sheriff. As an avid outdoorsman, and Lifetime Member of the NRA, he always enjoyed hunting, fishing, and working his birddogs. Well, at least dogs he hoped would be birddogs, even if they hadn’t been raised to be. Although the dogs didn’t always know what they were doing, he loved them and they loved him, and he never missed a chance to take them on every excursion he could think of. For family outings it was not uncommon to spend entire days in search of shark teeth and arrowheads in the countless chalk bluffs and flint hills that make up so much of his beloved Kansas landscape. John was also quite an accomplished dancer in his day. A lover of all types of music, he was just as comfortable with polka or waltzing to Lawrence Welk, or country dancing or two-stepping to his favorites from Hee Haw.
John is survived by his wife Geraldine Wehrli of the home in Stockton; son Gerald Wehrli and wife Pat of Plainville; daughter Dereth “DJ” Claycamp of Goodland; grandchildren Lonnie Claycamp, Christopher Wehrli and wife Jackie, and Adam Wehrli and wife Michelle; and great-grandchildren Savannah Wehrli, and twins Cole and Riggins Wehrli.
He was preceded in death by his parents Rudolph and Laura Wehrli, and sister Josie Mae Sellens.
Although denied service in the military because of injuries sustained as a young man, John was a true patriot, a lover of his country, and a supporter of our fighting men and women. With a heart that pumped red, white, and blue until the very last second, he lived a life of love, honor, integrity, and service to his family, friends, neighbors, community, and country. So, with the same grace that God has shed on the country John loved and called “home,” we rejoice, as he is now crowned with eternal goodness and welcomed to his eternal home.
Funeral Services will be held at 2:00pm on Saturday, September 8, 2018 at Plumer-Overlease Funeral Home in Stockton. Burial will follow at the Stockton City Cemetery. Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00pm on Friday at Main Street Christian Church in Stockton with family receiving friends from 6:00-7:30pm.