Melvin Pfau
Melvin Eugene Pfau, 86, died Dec. 21, 2020, at his North Newton, Kansas, residence. He was born Sept. 26, 1934, in Holyoke to Adolph and Helen (Faulhaber) Pfau. On April 4, 1961, he married Linda Lee Merritt in Boulder.
Melvin was a United States Army veteran. He retired as an agricultural loan officer at BankWest of Goodland, Kansas, where he worked for 21 years. Prior to BankWest, Melvin worked 20 years for Great Western Sugar Company as an agricultural consultant to sugar beet growers in both northeast Colorado and northwest Kansas. Additionally, he independently farmed in Holyoke.
Mel and Linda were members and actively involved in the United Methodist Church in Goodland. Additionally, Mel and Linda were co-chairs of the Genesis Food Pantry of Sherman County for five years. It was important to Mel and Linda to raise food insecurity awareness in their community.
Melvin was very active in many church, community and civic organizations throughout his life, including Methodist Men, United Methodist Choir, city council, Tumbleweed Barbershop Chorus of Colby, Kansas, Goodland Regional Medical Center Hospital Board, American Legion, American Legion baseball coaching, RC Planes of Goodland, and Jaycees of Colorado in which he served a term as the Colorado state president.
Mel especially enjoyed time with his family, fixing basically everything under the sun, tinkering with his beloved Model T, rebuilding Volkswagen engines, and building and flying RC planes at the airport he helped develop. He also was very passionate about singing bass in the Barbershop Connection Quartet where, over the course of 25 years, he performed in hundreds of gigs throughout Kansas and Colorado — most notably a performance on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad train in Colorado.
He is survived by his wife, Linda; daughter, Kelli Pfau of Wichita, Kansas; son, Jon Pfau and Stacia of Ozawkie, Kansas; brother, Dale Pfau; and five grandchildren, Parker, Katherine, Haley, Braeden and Jenna.
Melvin was preceded in death by his parents and brothers and sisters, Loren, Alvin, Merle, Audrey, Doris and Thelma Pfau.
Memorial donations in Melvin’s name may be made to Genesis Food Pantry of Sherman County, P.O. Box 313, Goodland, KS 67735.
Petersen Funeral Home of Newton was in charge of the arrangements.