John Neff

1941 - 2025

John Emerson Neff, a longtime resident of Ruby Valley, NV, passed away peacefully on November 30, 2025 surrounded by family at his ranch. He was 84 years old.

Funeral services will be December 30, 9 a.m. (Elko time), 10 a.m. (Ruby Valley time), at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, located at 1651 East College Parkway in Elko, NV. A graveside service at the Ruby Valley Cemetery will follow.

John was born November 4, 1941 in Murray, Utah, to Beryl and Emerson Neff. He grew up on a ranch in Ruby Valley with his father, mother and six brothers and sisters. He was the second born.

John attended Elko High School, graduating in 1959. After high school, John attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in Civil Engineering. It was at BYU where he met and fell in love with Kathleen Williams, of Napa, California. They married and spent 54 wonderful years together before she tragically died after a battle with leukemia.

While attending college, John was a member of the Utah National Guard and rose to the rank of second lieutenant. After graduating from BYU and fulfilling his military duties, John and Kathy moved to Alaska with their first son, Adam. John worked for Schlumberger in the North Slope oil fields for three years, during which the couple welcomed a second son, Benjamin.

In 1972, the opportunity arose for John to return to Ruby Valley after his father expanded his operation and bought another ranch in the valley. In Ruby Valley, the Neff family grew with the addition of four more children: Samuel, Katherine (Katie), Joel and Annemarie.

John had an entrepreneurial spirit and in the 1980s built Neff Mill to make livestock feed to serve the local ranching community. Many of the pieces for the mill came from other mills that had gone out of business during a farming downturn. John was able to buy the equipment cheap, but had to disassemble and transport the pieces himself.

In his later years, Sam and Adam returned to the ranch, and it brought John great satisfaction to mentor his sons in the ranch and mill businesses. During these years he also expanded the ranch operation, adding several pivots and a pipeline for irrigation. Although he stepped back from the day-to-day work on the ranch following Kathy's death, he still remained involved as much as possible and offered advice to make sure the operation ran smoothly. John remained in weekly contact with Joel and Annemarie and their families, and frequently talked of their lives, talents, and accomplishments. He loved all of his grandchildren, and valued the time he was able to spend with them.

Following Kathy's death, John felt great responsibility for the care of his special-needs son Ben, and spent countless hours taking Ben to town for bowling and other activities, for as many years as he was able. He felt great relief when his other children had finalized formal arrangements for them to take care of Ben.

John was a prolific letter writer, and during his later years he spent much time keeping in touch with his many friends throughout Elko County and beyond. It has been wonderful to hear from so many who received and appreciated his letters and phone calls.

John had a deep love for and faith in his Savior Jesus Christ. As a young man, he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Southern States Mission, spending time in states such as Georgia and Alabama. He served in many church callings including Branch President, a member of the Stake High Council, and Stake Sunday School President. Prior to Kathy's death, they spent several years regularly serving together as workers in the Salt Lake City Temple. His favorite calling was teaching children as a Primary teacher.

John also served his local community as a leader in the Farm Bureau, volunteer fire department, conservation district and as a Scoutmaster.

John had an affable nature and enjoyed meeting new people. No matter how far from home, every new friend was considered a neighbor and he would begin conversations with "Hello, Neighbor!"

John had a lifelong love of learning and enjoyed reading voraciously about history and anything by Louis L'Amour, especially in his later years.

In heaven, John is reunited with his eternal companion Kathy, his daughter Katie, who passed away at age 2, his father Emerson, mother Beryl, brothers Paul and David, and nieces Carolyn, Emily and Tiffany.

He is survived by four sons Adam (Lisi) Neff, Ben Neff, Sam (Mary) Neff, Joel (Julie) Neff, daughter Annemarie (Adam) Beaty, 18 grandchildren Vivian (Ryan) Ward, Julia, Peter (Paige), LouLou, Philip, Kara, Nathaniel, Emery, Lucy, Andy, Charlie, Eddie, Maggie, Anson, Thomas, William, Samuel and John Beaty and 2 great grandchildren, Natalie and James Ward.

He is also survived by two brothers, Steve and Wendell Neff and sisters Jeanne Sampson and Janet Wendlandt, as well as many nieces and nephews.