Obituary of Vern Hevner

Vern Allen Hevner was born to Harvey Nelson Hevner, and Mary (Waldschmidt) Hevner, right in the middle of the "Dirty Thirties," on April 4, 1936 in Goodland, KS. Not long after his birth one of the worst dirt storms to hit this area occurred and to this day it is known in history as "Black Sunday." This time in history set the definition of Vern's life, "tough and gritty." As a young child he went everywhere with his father Nels. That is truly where his education began. He grew up fast, establishing as his young age the founding principles that defined him later as a man. He attended grade school in Arapahoe, CO until 5th grade. When Mary and Nels moved into Cheyenne Wells, Mary promptly enrolled Vern into Sacred Heart Catholic School, where he served as an altar boy at Mass daily. Vern then attended and graduated from Cheyenne Wells High School in 1954. This again was another very dry period for the farmers in Eastern Colorado, so Vern and his good friend Bob Cott decided to seek their fortunes in the Oil fields to be able to send money home to their family’s struggling on the farm. It was a flip of a coin that determined the next twist of fate, Vern wanted to go to Nebraska and Bob wanted to go to the western slopes of Colorado, so they flipped a coin and as fate would have it Bob won and it was the Western Slope of Colorado. That was where Vern met and married his wife Sharon Kay Russell, of 55 years, on March 8th 1958, after a two year courtship. Sharon was a young high school girl and Vern at that time was 20 and worldly when they met. Sharon's father was reluctant to let them date, but finally agreed with the understanding that Sharon's younger twin brothers were to go along on most all of their dates. Shortly after they married, they were called home to Cheyenne Wells, as Nels had suffered a stroke, and Vern was needed to take over the family farm. Vern and Sharon had four children to bless their lives. Vern instilled in his children the same founding principles he learned as a boy. Hard work, honesty, and helping those less fortunate were all things his children learned and lived by. After his children were grown, Vern and Sharon took college classes, one of them being History. It was then that Vern became and avid reader, especially History. Vern also had a brief brush with County Politics, and served as a member of the Land Use and Zoning board in an effort to preserve the land he loved so much. After his short career in politics ended, he returned to doing what he loved most, farming. By then he had several grandchildren and took an active part in their young education, by teaching them how to count to 10 in Indian, and telling them his version of the "Big Bad Wolf". All of his grand children can to this day quote those stories and many more. Vern truly lived life on his terms, and was able to farm and ranch until the day he died. Vern died suddenly, but peacefully at home on January 8th, 2013. He was preceded in death by his parents (Nels and Mary), one brother (Dick), two brother in laws, Bill Russell, and Daniel Cochran. He is survived by his wife Sharon (Cheyenne Wells), four children, DeeAnn Kinney (Paul) of Littleton, Darcy Janssen (Allan) of Burlington, Scott Hevner (Patty) of Cheyenne Wells, and Dawn Cotton (Donavan) of Fallon, NV, sister, LaVeta Cochran of OR, nine grandchildren, four great grandchildren with number five due next month, and many close lifelong friends in Cheyenne Wells.