NITCHER, George 1908-1986

NITCHER

Posted By: Jeannine Peterson (email)
Date: 4/20/2012 at 15:39:27

Funeral services were held Monday at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Grafton, for George Nitcher, 78, of Grafton, who died Thursday, December 18, 1986, at home.

The Rev. James Fladland officiated and burial was in Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City, where military rites were conducted.

Mr. Nitcher was born February 6, 1908, at Republic, KS, to Christopher and Elizabeth (Kirk) Nitcher. He attended rural schools in Kansas and moved to Worth County in January 1932. On November 28, 1958, he married Helen Drache at Nashua.

Mr. Nitcher owned and operated a blacksmith shop in Grafton until 1956 when he became employed as a maintenance man at the Cerro Gordo County Courthouse, Mason City. He worked there until retiring.

Mr. Nitcher was featured in a Globe-Gazette article in 1967 and pictured with a merry-go-round which he built himself. His father had owned and operated a large merry-go-round and Mr. Nitcher had always dreamed of owning one. Mr. Nitcher built his merry-go-round entirely from memory and he and his wife displayed it at shopping centers in the state.

A veteran of World War II, Mr. Nitcher was a member of the Manly American Legion Post 110.

Survivors include his wife, Helen, Grafton; two daughters, Joyce (Elroy) Hackbart, Manly, Maxine (Edward) Kruger, Grafton; two step-daughters, Rita Radtke, Minneapolis, MN, and Karol (Rueben) Sanchez, Mission, TX; two sons, Kenneth, Northwood, and George Jr., Council Bluffs; one stepson, Donald Drache, Key West, FL; 11 grandchildren; 15 step-grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; 16 step-great-grandchildren; and one brother, William of Mason City.

He was preceded in death by his parents, one son, one grandson, one granddaughter, four brothers and three sisters.

Mason City Globe Gazette December 1986