Slain Grocer Honored

An overflow crowd gathered Sunday to bid farewell to John Gabriel Nutting, a grocer killed in Irvine last week by a mentally ill co-worker wielding a samurai-style sword.

Nutting, 60, of Huntington Beach, died June 29 in the attack at the Albertsons supermarket at Culver Drive and Irvine Boulevard. The attack also ended the life of fellow employee Judith Fleming, 55. Joseph Parker, 30, the grocery bagger who mounted the attack, was shot and killed by police.

“Our body is like a car that our soul uses to get around in,” the Rev. Stan Harris told hundreds of mourners inside the chapel and on the lawn at Pacific View Mortuary in Corona del Mar. “That poor crazy person came out and totaled John’s car, but John escaped -- he’s fine.”

In a series of statements written by relatives and read by Harris, Nutting was remembered as a husband, father, grandfather and friend who would do anything for his family, was always good for a laugh and enjoyed restoring old motorcycles, bicycles and automobiles; collecting antiques; raising desert tortoises; building things out of wood; and racing radio-controlled cars.

“He was a remarkable man with a great sense of humor,” wrote Sharon, Nutting’s wife. “He loved all of his children and grandchildren and was looking forward to retiring and spending more time with them.”

John Jr., Nutting’s son, wrote that he thought of his father with pride. “My dad had many friends,” he said. “Just to know him was to be his friend.”

Jessie Nutting, his daughter, said she felt inspired by his life. “I best remember my dad as someone who could do anything,” she wrote. “He could always get the best deals at garage sales and always knew where to get the best burritos. He taught me how to ride a bike and change the sparkplugs in my car. The most important thing he taught me is that anything is possible.”

“My father will always be in my heart,” daughter Sheri Palmer wrote. “I love you, John.”