Virgil Ernest “Ernie” Love, age 92, retired KG&E Murray Gill Substation shift foreman, passed away on Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023, after an 11-month battle with cancer.

Visitation will be at 9 a.m. Friday, Sept. 8, at Westwood Presbyterian Church, Wichita, with the funeral service to follow at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Greenwood Cemetery, Oatville.

Ernie was born on April 17, 1931, at the Love Family Farm in Millerton, Kan., the youngest of seven children. The Loves moved to Clearwater when Ernie was a child, where he attended school, worked as a paper boy, and as an attendant at his family’s Standard Oil Station and Western Auto. Most importantly during this time, Ernie met the love of his life, Corene Lu (Curless) Love. After Ernie and Corene graduated from Clearwater High School in 1949, Ernie worked in the family business until he enlisted in the United States Navy, where he served with distinction for four years in the Korean conflict.

After Ernie’s discharge, he and Corene married and moved to Haysville, where Ernie began his career at the KG&E Murray Gill Substation, retiring in 1992 as a shift foreman. Ernie and Corene had two children, Brenda Marie and Scott Edwin.

Ernie was preceded in death by his wife, Corene Lu (Curless) Love; his second wife, Judith Ann (Woodring) Love; his parents, Orie and Fayrah (Haines) Love; and his six brothers and sisters, Viola Bates, Doris Murry, Bill Love, Orie Love, Leila Anderson, and Virginia Lawrenz. Ernie is survived by, and will be deeply missed by, his daughter, Brenda (Steve) Collins, of Eureka Mo.; his son, Scott Love (Larry Cassil); granddaughters, Lauren (Sarah) LoveCombs; granddaughter, Mackenzie Love (Tyson Bell), and two great-grandsons, Emerson and Everett LoveCombs, all of Oklahoma City; grandson, Paul (Valarie) Collins, of Nixa, Mo.; granddaughter, Sarah Love Collins (Florimond Girard-Gellens), and his great-grandson, Gabriel, all of Belfort, France; as well as dozens of nieces, nephews, and friends around the country.

Memorials, Westwood Presbyterian Church, 8007 W. Maple St, Wichita, KS 67209, Kansas Honor Flight, Inc., PO Box 2371, Hutchinson, KS 67501, or the Good Samaritan Program, c/o Wichita Presbyterian Manor, 4700 W. 13th St. N., Wichita KS 67212.