Claude "Melon Man" Morris, loving husband, father and grandfather passed away peacefully Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. He was born in Reno County Aug. 5, 1913, the son of Thomas Amos and Edna E. Lisman Morris.

He was a lifetime Reno County resident farmer graduating from Reno Community High School in 1931, a member of Mitchell Chapel United Methodist Church, Sunday school superintendent at Mitchell and a member of Nickerson Chapter of IOOF. Claude had been a bus driver for Mitchell-Nickerson and also a school board member for Yaggy, Nickerson High and Mitchell Schools. He was the original greenskeeper designer of the first 9 holes at Prairie Dunes Golf Course.

On Sept. 1, 1936, he married Doris Nadine Blanchfield in Larned. She died June 25, 2006.

Survivors include: their children and spouses, Mary Elaine and Reynold Detter of Oakdale, Calif., David and Susan Morris of Hutchinson; sister, Betty Lou Hill of Hutchinson; four grandchildren, Kim Stirtz, Nancy and Dennis Culbertson, Melissa and Dave Venable, Jay and Tina Morris; seven great-grandchildren, Walker Evans, Creighton Evans, Harrison Morris, Stacey and Hunter Moyles, Matthew and Seana Stirtz, David Etheridge, Becca Venable; two great great- grandchildren, Wyatt Moyles and Hannah Stirtz. He was preceded in death by an infant son; a brother, Amos David Morris; and two sisters, Vesta Lee Cooper and Eula May Morris.

Funeral service will be 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, at Mitchell Chapel United Methodist Church with Pastors Teresa Wynn and R. Samuel Askew officiating. Burial will be in Wildmead Cemetery. Visitation will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday with family present 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Elliott Mortuary, 1219 N. Main, Hutchinson, Kan.

Memorial gifts may be made to the church, in care of the mortuary.