John C. "Jack" Simmon July 24, 1925 - February 2, 2012
John C. “Jack” Simmon, 86, of Kearney, died February 2, 2012 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney.
Funeral Mass will be Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:30 a.m. at the St. James Catholic Church with Fr. Josh Brown officiating. Burial will be at the Stanley Cemetery near Amherst. Military rites will be provided at the grave by the Miller American Legion Post #351 and U.S. Navy Military funeral honors team. Wake services will be Tuesday, February 7, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. at the Horner Lieske McBride & Kuhl Funeral and Cremation Services in Kearney. Visitation will be Tuesday from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the funeral home and one hour prior to the service Wednesday at the church. Memorials are suggested to the St. James Catholic Church. A message of condolence, tribute, or memory can be left at www.hlmkfuneral.com. Horner Lieske McBride & Kuhl Funeral and Cremation Services of Kearney are in charge of arrangements.
Jack was born July 24, 1925 in Geneva to Harry and Gertrude (O’Brien) Simmon. He graduated from Miller High School in 1943. He joined the Navy in 1943, and served on a Destroyer Escort in the Pacific during WW II. After his service in the Navy, Jack attended Creighton University in Omaha for 2 years and the earned his Bachelors degree from Detroit University . He married Dorothy Czenkusch on May 22, 1951 in Amherst. He then worked at the Army depot in Sidney. In 1959 Jack and his wife and three children moved to Italy, Germany, Michigan, and Virginia twice, as he pursued a career as a civilian employee of the U.S. Army. At the age of 60 Jack retired and moved back with Dorothy to Kearney to be close to family. He took up golf and enjoyed playing at Buffalo Ridge Golf Course where he had a hole in one. He also found time to volunteer driving cancer patients to treatment, working at the immunization clinic, and was a teacher in the adult literacy program. He was a member of St. James Catholic Church where he was a Eucharistic Minister, the Knights of Columbus, American Legion, and the National Association of Retired Federal Employees.
Surviving Relatives:
Wife----------------------Dorothy Simmon of Kearney, NE
Son-----------------------Jim and Jill Simmon of Grosse Pointe Woods, MI
Daughters--------------Susan and Steve Dodge of Jackson, MI
Mary and Robert Spoth of Woodbrige, VA
Grandchildren---------Katie Spoth, Patrick Spoth, Kevin Spoth, Kyle Spoth, James Dodge, Kathryn Dodge, Lindsay Hill, and Shelby Rademaker
3 Great Grandchildren
He was preceded in death by his parents and an infant brother.
