Carl J. Pletcher

Carl J. Pletcher, 89, passed away peacefully at 4:57 p.m., on May 11, 2019, at The Crossings at Reynold’s Mountain in Asheville, North Carolina where he lived for the past two years. 

Carl was the child of Earl Sherman and Hannah Derr Pletcher. His older sister, Evelyn, born in 1915, survived only one day. Carl was born and raised in Harrison Township, Elkhart County, Indiana. His parents owned and operated the Jonesville Store. Carl worked in the store but also helped out on his grandmother’s farm and other family farms in the area while he was growing up. 

Carl was the president of his 1948 Wakarusa High School graduating class. He went to college at Ball State Teacher’s College (now Ball State University), where he met Betty Jayne Browning. They married on December 26, 1949, in Seymour, Indiana. 

In 1952 Carl was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served for two years. After he completed his service, he went to work as a salesman at his father-in-law’s John Deere dealership in Seymour. While in Seymour, Carl and Betty gave birth to their only child, Cheryl Lee Pletcher. 

In 1961, Carl went to work for Deere & Company. He, Betty, and Cheryl traveled the Midwest during his career. They lived in Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada before Carl finished his career in the Kansas City Sales Branch. He was a credit manager for Deere dealers in Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, and a mentor to many Deere field representatives. The dealers and the field reps highly regarded Carl, and still today many talk about the impact he made on their dealerships and lives. He retired from Deere & Company in 1984 but continued to work on a temporary basis for Deere for many years. 

In 1984, Carl married Gloria Coons in Raytown, Missouri. They enjoyed traveling early in their marriage, gardening, and being grandparents to Gloria’s grandson and Carl’s step-grandson, Benjamin Borja. Gloria passed away in May 2013. Carl remained in the Kansas City area until August 2017, when, as the result of a stroke, he moved to Asheville to be near Cheryl and her wife, Amy. 

If the true measure of a successful life is the positive impact one leaves on others, then Carl Pletcher achieved greatness. A memorial service will be held on Friday, May 24th, at 2:30 p.m., in the chapel at The Crossings at Reynold’s Mountain, 41 Cobblers Way, Asheville. Carl’s ashes will be interred next to Gloria in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. 

In lieu of flowers, Cheryl and Amy ask that donations be made to Four Seasons Palliative and Hospice Care (www.fourseasonsfdn.org), 221 N. Main Street, Hendersonville, NC 28792.

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