John Owen Von Haden, 76, of Augusta, WI, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at the Veterans Home in Chippewa Falls.
John was born 8th out of 9 children to Kathryn and Adolf Von Haden. John’s sister, Barbara, tells the story of all the siblings having to wait upstairs in the farmhouse and watching for the stork to bring the new baby. In the morning, when they came down, Grandma Annie told them to go look at the “little black tomcat in bed with their ma”, who turned out to be baby John, with thick black hair. He attended school at the Dells country school through 8th grade and later graduated from Augusta High School in 1960. John served in the United States Army from Jan. of 1964 until Oct. of 1965. He was a life-long member at Grace Lutheran Church in Augusta. John spent his life farming the land surrounding the home place north of Augusta. He enjoyed coon and fox hunting with his brothers and friends, horse pulls, driving his John Deere tractors in the Bean and Bacon Days Parade, and taking Sunday afternoon rides through the countryside with Joan. John appeared to care little for the accumulation of wealth or “things”. Instead, he will be remembered as expressing excitement or admiration over a coon dog, a big, strong work horse, an old tractor, or maybe an especially colorful chicken. Those things that most of us pursue like new cars and houses seemed to hold little interest for him. The wealth that John possessed was found in his relationships with his family, friends, neighbors and the land he worked.
John is survived by his longtime companion, Joan Johnston; son, Ken Johnston; sisters: Barb Anderson of Cadott and Dorothy Perkovich of Augusta; brother, Jim Von Haden of Fall Creek; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceeded in death by his parents, Adolf and Kathryn Von Haden; sisters: IreneCollier, Mary Henke, and Esther Stelter; brothers: Dean and Len Von Haden; brothers-in-law: Len Anderson, Elton Collier, Don Henke, Don Perkovich, and Ken Stelter.
A memorial service for John will be held at the Anderson Funeral Home in Augusta at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Visitation will be one hour before services.
A special thank you to all who have cared for John along his journey who include Dr. Kazelka and staff at Marshfield Clinic, former staff at Fall Creek Valley Nursing Home and the staff at the Chippewa Veterans Home.