Verne M. Ayers, 88, died Feb. 16, 2006, at Dillon Living Center.

He was born Jan. 20, 1918, in Pratt, the son of Roland Franklin and Bessie Emma Weikal Ayers. He graduated in 1936 from Pratt High School and in 1941 from Emporia State University, with a business degree. A longtime Hutchinson resident, he had also lived at Marion County Lake and Nickerson, he was a salesman and treasurer for the former Roberts Printing and Stationary, retiring in 1981.

He belonged to Nickerson United Methodist Church and had formerly attended First Baptist Church, Hutchinson, American Legion Lysle Rishel Post No. 68, and was the former Boy Scout Leader for Troop 319. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

On Sept. 1, 1938, he married Juanita M. Willis in Great Bend. She survives.

Other survivors include: a son, Dennis, Cedar City, Utah; three daughters, Janice Piatt, Nickerson, Judith Bechtold, Andover, and Jeanette Bauer, Plano, Texas; 10 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; a great-great-grandchild; and several special nephews and nieces.

He was preceded in death by four brothers, Guy, Roland, Carl and Howard; a sister, Margaret; a granddaughter, Gail Bugner; and a great-grandson, Russell Griffin.

Funeral will be at 2 p.m. Monday at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson, with Pastor Jim Autrey and the Rev. Ron Lowry presiding. Friends may sign the register from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the funeral home. The casket will remain closed. Burial will be in Fairlawn Burial Park.

Memorials may be sent to the American Heart Association or the American Cancer Society, both in care of the funeral home.