Vernon Temple, 80 of Grandview, MO; formerly of Warrensburg, went home to be with the Lord on Monday, June 27, 2022.

Vernon was born May 21, 1942 to Floyd and Margery Temple. He was 10th of 11 children. He met his wife Joyce Lessenden at a gas station in 1959, where he worked in Kit Carson, Colorado. He was washing the windows of her daddy's truck and almost wore a hole in the window, he knew at that point that she was the girl that he was going to marry. In order to get married, they had to buy a house. So they got a rent-to-own for two weeks and got married on May 7, 1960 in Dalhart, Texas. Shortly after getting married, Vernon and Joyce moved to Salina, Kansas, then to Glasco, Kansas. After spending seven years in those areas, they moved to Salem, Oregon and had a Bing Cherry Farm for 3.5 years. While there, Vernon attended and graduated from Portland Upholstery School. After their time there, they moved to Berthoud, Colorado for 2.5 years, opening his first upholstery shop before moving to Abilene, Kansas in 1973 where he opened his upholstery business for 22 years. In 1995, Vernon and Joyce moved to Warrensburg, Missouri and continued their upholstery business for another 25 years. They closed the business in 2020 and retired, then moved to Grandview, Missouri. His love for animals is legendary. He never just had one animal, there was always multiple. He had a spider monkey, miniature horses, miniature donkeys, goats (including fainting goats), chickens, ducks, geese, dogs, cats, peacocks and various breeds of birds (finches, cockatoos, cockatiels, conures, and many different types of parrots). So it might be easier to say what kind of animals he did not have….Cows. He never had cows. He left that up to his big brothers.

He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Joyce, of the home, daughter Christine (Bradford) Williams of Independence, MO, daughter Sharon Wuthnow (Lee Cunningham) of Shawnee, KS, son Von (Kelly) Temple of Wichita, KS, his sister, Florence Caldwell of Salina, KS, brothers, Delbert (Vivian) of Meade, CO, Raymond (Mary) of Elmore City, OK, and Francis (Judy) of Salina, KS. He is also survived by 13 grandchildren, Kelly Ray Luthi, Jamie Jones, Benjamin Williams, Susan Kahler, Brandon Williams, Brent'lee Williams, Blake Williams, Andrew Wuthnow, Sarah Wuthnow, Micheal Anderson, Avonlie Temple, Jadrianne Temple, and Devon Temple and 14 great-grandchildren. Vernon is proceeded in death by his parents, Floyd and Margery Temple, sister, Ruby Lamer, brothers, Robert Temple, Harry Temple, Ted Temple, Lee Temple and Lonnie Temple and his daughter, Janice Jones. His kind, gentle soul will be missed by all that knew him. He will be remembered as "Speedy" to his kids and grandkids.

Funeral Service will be 2:00 p.m. Saturday, July 2nd at Calvary Baptist Church, near Whiteman AFB, with interment to follow at the Centerview Cemetery. For those unable to attend, there will be a live feed provided by the church, which can be accessed at live.cbckn.org

Arrangements entrusted to Williams Funeral Chapel in Warrensburg.

Online condolences may be left at www.williamsfuneralchapel.net.