TOM CLAFLIN

SHELDON- Services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada, Mo., for Thomas Charles Claflin, 81, Sheldon, who died Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2021, at his Sheldon home surrounded by family, following a short illness. Pastor Roger Beach will officiate. Burial will be in Sheldon Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, at the funeral home.

Those in attendance will be asked to maintain social distancing and are asked to wear face masks to protect themselves and others.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to either the Nevada Animal Shelter or the Vernon County Youth Fair, in care of the funeral home.

The obituary may be viewed and condolences sent online at www.ferryfuneralhome.com.

Survivors include his wife Janie; two children, Kathy Claflin-Ashworth, Sheldon and Charles Claflin and wife Michelle, Sheldon; five grandchildren, Justin Hancock and wife Sarah, Sheldon, Kelsey Westerhold and husband Joshua, Sheldon, Cody Claflin and wife Taylor, Sheldon, Caitlin Baney and husband Corey, Pryor, Okla. and Carly Claflin, Stillwater, Okla.; three great-grandchildren, Maddison Westerhold and Cade and Cameron Claflin, all of Sheldon; two brothers, Harry Claflin and wife Mary, Liberal and Dick Claflin and wife Brenda, Nixa; his faithful Australian Shepherd, Jake and a host of cousins and close friends.

Mr. Claflin was born Oct. 19, 1939, in Anthony, Kan., to Charlie Clark and Electra Lee (Kraus) Claflin. He married Betty Jane “Janie” Landwehr on Jan. 28, 1960, in Liberal. The two were one day short of celebrating their 61st wedding anniversary.

Mr. Claflin was raised as a child in the Perry, Okla. area. His family moved south of Bronaugh when he was 11 years old. Upon his 1958 high school graduation from Liberal High School, he began a lifelong farming career. In his early years, he baled hay each summer at the Taberville prairies. As his family grew, he settled into full-time row crop farming and raising cattle in the Sheldon area, a profession he continued until his retirement in 2020.

His memberships included serving 16 years on the Sheldon R-8 School Board of Education, the Sheldon Cemetery Board, Nevada Elks Lodge #564 and was a Boy Scout leader that included serving as an adult advisor for the Mo-Kan Area Council Order of the Arrow. In 2012 he received a 50 year pin from the Boy Scouts of America.