Penny's Memorial
Dean Grua
Dean was an avid silhouette shooter and NKSSA Club member since 1986. Dean served as club president for one year and was match director for many years. Dean could be found at every silhouette match and practice and also most Tuesdays where he would sometime arrive at before 10 am so that he could get bench #1 for the open range that started at noon. Although due to medical issues, Dean was not as active in recent years, he still loved to come out to the range whenever he was able.
Bench #1 will be forever known as the Dean Grua memorial bench.
Joe Puffert
Joe joined the NKSSA in 1983 after seeing an ad at a gun store for an IHMSA match. After attending a couple of matches, he became involved in the behind the scenes running of the matches. He built and stored 2 trailers with the shooting benches and targets when we had to set them up and take them down for each match—before our auto reset targets and permanent benches. Joe started and ran the every Tuesday open range for more than 10 years, and was also involved in trapshooting and muzzleloading. He just really enjoyed any type of shooting, and was willing to help out doing whatever was needed for the club. Although he was not able to shoot as much in recent years, he still enjoyed silhouette practice day and still could outshoot a lot of us.
Bench #2 will be forever known as the Joe Puffert memorial bench.
Ray Richard
Ray joined the NKSSA in 1999 and did try his hand at silhouette a couple of times, but was more involved in trapshooting. Ray was the club vice president for 16 years and always willing to help out at any NKSSA event. Ladies’ day and Youthfest were his favorites and he was known as Chef Ray during our early Ladies’ days as he always made the most wonderful spaghetti dinner. Ray could also be found at the range on open range days, especially in recent years after he retired from the IRS.
Bench #3 will be forever known as the Ray Richard memorial bench.
Clayton Whiteker
Clayton became a member of the NKSSA in 1998 after shooting IHMSA matches here at Crittenden. He was an avid silhouette shooter. He also became an avid trapshooter after joining the club and represented us well at many of the 5th District Fairs. Clayton was instrumental in our organizing and promoting our youth events and was always involved in Youthfest and Ladies’ Day. Clayton took pride in teaching his girls to shoot and was a proud grandpa when his granddaughter shot her first deer.
Bench #4 will be forever known as the Clayton Whiteker memorial bench.