News & Notes
Farewells John “Jack” E. Hecox was born on April 20, 1941, in Gothenburg, Nebraska to Eugene and June Belle (Haynes) Hecox and passed away unexpectedly on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at his home in Dorchester, Nebraska at the age of 79 years, 11 months and 5 days. Jack grew up on the family farm near Gothenburg where he attended and graduated from Gothenburg High School with the Class of 1959. He then went on to attend Wesleyan University in Lincoln where he graduated in 1963. In his younger years, Jack served on the Giltner Fire Department and owned the Giltner Bar. Jack worked at Rhen Marshall in Beatrice where he drove a truck delivering supplies to area farmers. In his later years he worked at Sun-Mart in Crete until he retired. On April 12, 2011, Jack was united in marriage to Nora Fortune. Jack loved to go deer hunting and enjoyed playing golf when he was younger. He loved watching anything Nebraska, especially football and volleyball. After the couple retired, they enjoyed working in their garden and making frozen cucumbers. Jack really enjoyed having Nora’s family over and spending time with them. Jack was preceded in death by his wife,
Nora; parents, Gene and June Hecox; and one nephew. Survivors cherishing his memory include his stepchildren, Kathy (Pankoke) and husband, Ron Peterson, Cortland, Janet (Pollock) and husband, Roy Olsen, Garland; brother, Jerry and wife, Beverly Hecox, Beatrice; grandchildren, great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews. To this obituary we add our thoughts, prayers and memories of a life shared with Jack. “History on the Gene and June Hecox Family” Eugene Hecox and June (Haynes) Hecox were both born south of Gothenburg Nebraska in 1915. They both graduated from Gothenburg High School in 1933. June went on to attend business school and then taught school at a country school for a few years. Gene farmed and raised shorthorn cattle. They married in 1939 and in 1941 they had twin boys, Jerry and Jack (John). They continued to farm and ranched on the family farm for more than 70 years. Gene’s passion was working with shorthorn cattle which he did for 85 years. He was active in the state Shorthorn Association for many years as well as judging many Shorthorn shows. Gene was the President of the Shorthorn Association in 1965-1966. Their brand was the Clover-Bar and he was recognized in the Century Club in 1972 for having attained 116 head of
Shorthorns. This was Nebraska’s second largest and the nation’s eleventh largest Shorthorn recorder at that time. Gene and June were members of the Banner United Methodist Church South of Gothenburg. June played the organ for over 60 years there and she also gave piano lessons to the children in the church. They continued farming and ranching until their health would not allow it any longer; they both passed away in the Gothenburg Memorial Hospital Long-term care unit almost 3 years apart. Jack (John) is my step-dad and in March of this year he passed away unexpectedly. He always treated me like his daughter and he shared with me how much he and his parents thought of the Nebraska Shorthorn Association. Jack’s wishes are that a memorial be given to them in recognition of his parents. He was always proud of his parents and often talked about the Shorthorn cattle and how his Dad loved raising them and being on the family farm. Of course they loved the Nebraska Cornhuskers; in fact Gene and June had season tickets and attended every game that they could! I was lucky enough to have met them many years ago when they were traveling to Lincoln for a few games. They were the nicest, kindest, sweetest couple I could have met. =
The Hecox family recently gave the Nebraska Shorthorn Association $3,000 in memoriam.
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shorthorn country = december 2021
