INMAN - Claude Ellis Couch, 77, died at his home in rural Inman.

He was born Feb. 11, 1932, in Darlow, rural Reno County, the son of Samuel Bowers and Nancy Elizabeth Gillock Couch.

He had worked for Dillons Bakery, Detroiter Mobile Homes and then Consolidated Manufacturing. He retired from Buhler Mills.

He was a member of the Loyal Order of the Moose Hutchinson Chapter #1371.

On May 8, 1951, he married Dorothy M. "Dottie" Gulleson in Hutchinson. She survives.

Other survivors include: daughters, Claudia Durr and husband, Duncan, Shannon Shea and husband, Mike, and Sammi Ford and husband Bryan, all of Hutchinson, Melinda Rice and husband, Rick, Wichita, and Holly Kracman, Hutchinson; son, Coil Couch and wife, Shellie, Hutchinson; 21 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by an infant son, sisters, Velma Stark and Elma Spaeth; brother, Elbert Couch; grandson, Shane Schoenhoff; and granddaughter, Jeanette Bartlett.

To celebrate Claude's life, the family will receive friends from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday March 1, 2009, at the Kansas Sampler Center, 978 Arapaho Road, Inman, Kansas. Friends may sign the book from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson. Cremation has taken place.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Hutchinson Public Library or Hospice of Reno County, in care of the mortuary.