John Allen Hemminger

John A. Hemminger, 82, was born in Center Township, Shelby County, Iowa, to his parents Anna Pauline and John M. Hemminger at their home on a farm east of Harlan. John was the youngest of four children, Donna, Ronald, and Charlene, who grew up learning a plethora of skills that would serve him well throughout his life. John attended a one-room school located two miles from his home until the 8th grade. He then attended Harlan High School making all-state in football, wrestling, choir, and serving as a state Future Farmers of America (FFA) officer for two consecutive years, as well as being an exceptional student graduating in 1960. Beginning at a young age working on the farms with his family and learning life lessons, he relished agricultural life in the 1950s and '60s before large-scale farming took hold. Individually, at the age of 16, he cared almost exclusively for the family's century farm in Iowa Township, Crawford County, east of Manilla, Iowa, utilizing only a 1940s Farmall "H" tractor which he eventually traded in 1976 for a Farmall "Super M", owning that tractor for 49 years which served as the workhorse of his farming enterprise.

Encouraged by his parents, John attended the Iowa State Teacher's College (now the University of Northern Iowa), graduating with a double major in math and accounting in 1964. Also that same year he was united in marriage to Margery H. Dobler with whom he had four children: John P., Sara, Kathryn, and Timothy. His next endeavor included working with the Price Waterhouse accounting firm in Chicago, Illinois, until he elected to join the Air Force where he served with distinction as a surveillance plane pilot. The next stop in his career was as a pilot for Western Airlines until they were acquired by Delta Air Lines where he flew until his retirement as captain of a Boeing 767, although his favorite plane was the Boeing 727 aircraft.

John was united in marriage to Svetlana Bykhanova in 1995, having another daughter: Anna. John loved to travel and could be found pulling his family around the world to see historical sights and experience immersion in cultures different from our own. Throughout his life, he maintained and built upon the family farming enterprise, acquiring land in South Dakota while retaining his beloved Iowa farms and the family-built farmhouse. John taught his children the meaning of a good day's work, excellence in all endeavors, and the value of an education. John was always a problem-solver, as his profession demanded, carrying those lessons into retirement to assist his family looking forward into the future.

He will be dearly missed by his family and friends, many of whom had been by his side for nearly eighty years. John is survived by his wife, Svetlana, his five children, and seven grandchildren, his brother-in-law, Tom Johns, as well as nieces and nephews and other extended family members. After a celebration of life, his interment at the Harlan Cemetery next to his parents was his final wish, soaring into the great beyond on his next flight home.