Jerry W. Branch

Valley Falls – Funeral services for Jerry W. Branch, 56, Valley Falls, will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mercer Funeral Home in Valley Falls. The casket will remain closed. Cremation will follow and inurnment will be at a later date in Valley Falls Cemetery.Mr. Branch died Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006, at his home after a brief illness.He was born Oct. 29, 1950, in Independence, Mo., the son of David Abner and Mary Helen Phillips Branch. He graduated from Van Horn High School in Independence, Mo.Mr. Branch worked in the shipping and receiving department of the Alamo Group in Holton until the plant closed earlier this year. He had recently worked at Holton Lumber.He married Cathy Lassiter Jepson on Dec. 9, 1989, in Valley Falls. She survives, of the home.Other survivors include three daughters, Jackie Asher, Oskaloosa, Carly Branch, McLouth, and Whitney Gartner, Leavenworth; two stepsons, Shawn and Chad Jepson, both of Valley Falls; two brothers, David L. and Philip, both of Sugar Creek, Mo.; and five grandchildren.The family suggests memorials to Jefferson County Hospice, sent in care of Mercer Funeral Home, 810 Broadway, Valley Falls 66088.Online condolences may be sent at www.mercerfuneralhomes.com.