Auburn - Nellie Fern (Kurtz) Hunter, 97, passed away on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, at her home near Auburn, Kansas. She was born on January 26, 1926, in Vermillion, Kansas, the daughter of Wesley and Edna (Martin) Kurtz.

Nellie had lived in Fostoria before moving to the farm west of Auburn, where she has lived for the last 58 years.

Nellie attended Bluff Creek School and Irving High School. She had been a Homemaker. She was a member of the First Baptist Church of Auburn.

Nellie was married by proxy on June 14, 1944, to Dewite Sterling Hunter, as she was in Kansas, and he was in England in the service.

Nellie was preceded in death by her husband, Dewite, on January 19, 2003; by her son in law, David Todd; by her parents, Wesley and Edna; by her five brothers, John, Frederick, Raymond, David, Joseph and Paul ​ Junior​ ; by her sister, Alice Swobeda; and one grandchild ​, Paul Baxter.​

Nellie is survived by her three children, Goldie (Walter) Baxter of Wakarusa, Benalea Todd of Maple Hill and Sterling (Margie) Hunter of Auburn; twelve grandchildren, twenty-six great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services for Nellie will be held at 11:00am on Monday, March 13 at the Dover Federated Church. The family will receive friends from 10:00am until service time. Burial will be in the Huff Cemetery near Fostoria, Kansas. Memorial contributions may be made to the Nellie Hunter Memorial Fund, sent in care of Feltner Funeral Home, 818 Topeka Avenue, Lyndon, KS 66451. Online condolences for the family may be left at feltnerfuneralhome.com .