Dane R. Nutt

Dane Robert Nutt was born August 15, 1936 to Iva and Elroy Nutt in Des Moines, IA. He was the third child born to a family of seven kids on the south side of Des Moines. Growing up he enjoyed spending time with his family, siblings, cousins and many friends. In 1958 Dane met the love of his life, Karen Merkel. They married on March 22, 1958. Together they enjoyed 62 years of marriage and raised four children on the east side of Des Moines. They worked hard and built a life of love and enjoyed many blessings together.

Dane began working for Keith Furnace Company when he was a teenager. He later went on to buy Keith Furnace Company and opened Climate Control Systems, which he co-owned and operated for 15 years before retiring in 1989.

You will never meet a person more hard working than Dane. He was a proud man who worked tirelessly to provide for his family, and instilled in his kids and grandkids the importance of hard work and family. To him, family was everything. He treated friends as chosen family, never met a stranger, and he liked to chat up anyone around him, all the time. Dane was the first to offer to help people if they needed it (and sometimes even if they didn’t), and hated sitting around idle. It was impossible to keep him away from projects, even as he grew older, as he just couldn’t stop himself from offering assistance or advice to anyone who might need it.

Dane’s absolute favorite times were spent surrounded by his family and friends. His favorite place to be was at Lost Island Lake. He visited the lake early in his life, and it quickly became a special place for him. In 1969 he and Karen purchased a piece of land in Electric Park at Lost Island, and a family legacy was born. Dane loved that all of his kids developed the same love for the lake, and continued to spend most weekends during the summers together there making memories, and, of course, working on projects. Many hours were spent together on the porch, or outside around the bonfire as a family.

Telling stories of his childhood and life was also one of Dane’s favorite things to do. He had a way of captivating whoever was around when he was retelling a story, whether it was one they had heard 30 times, or if it was one they were hearing for the first time. Dane also had a pretty well-known sweet tooth and would many times eat his dessert first, to make sure he had room for it. Though he never sang publicly on stage, Dane enjoyed singing or humming ALL the time – at home, in the car, at the grocery store, in doctor’s offices. To him, there wasn’t a place that wasn’t appropriate to sing.

Dane was a brave, tough man and fought to the very end. He leaves behind his loving wife Karen, his children Cindy (Doug) Deerr, Robert (Carrie) Nutt, Steve Nutt, Linda (Mike) DeFrancisco, brother Clarence Nutt, sisters Delilah Richardson, Sally (Joe) Soloman, Sylvia Kimble, and sister-in-law Janet Nutt. He also leaves behind eight grandchildren Michael, Stephen, Jacob, Jessica, Melissa, Austin, Erin, Ryan, and six great-grandchildren Haleigh, Benton, Kynzlee, Berkley, Evelyn and Briar, who were the joys of his life, as well as many nieces, nephews and close family friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Fred Nutt, Howard Nutt, brothers-in-law Donald Richardson, LaVerne Kimble, and sister-in-law Carol Nutt.

Visitation will begin at 11:00 a.m., followed by funeral service at 1:00 p.m., Tuesday, September 1, 2020 at Hamilton’s Funeral Home, 605 Lyon Street, Des Moines. Burial will take place at Avon Cemetery after the services. The family respectfully asks for no physical contact and masks are required. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be directed to the family in loving memory of Dane.

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