John Dale Meyer

John "Jack" "Dale" William Meyer, 87, of Emerson, Nebraska, formerly of rural Allen, Nebraska, passed away on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at the Hillcrest Care Center in Laurel Nebraska. Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, December 5, at 10:00 A.M. at the Munderloh~Smith Funeral Home in Pender, Nebraska with the Rev. Gretchen Ritola officiating. A visitation will be held on Tuesday from 3:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the Funeral Home with the family present from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Interment will be in the Rosehill Cemetery in Pender. John was born to John George Meyer and Pearl Emma (Wick) Meyer on October 22, 1925, in Pender, Nebraska. As a boy, John worked in his father's creamery and grocery store. He was confirmed at the Pender Lutheran Church. Following his graduation from Pender High School in 1943, he attended Wentworth Military Academy and at 17 years of age, enlisted in the Marines for WWII, serving in the Fighter Squadron 541 in the South Pacific (Peleliu, Iwo Jima and later mainland China). When the war ended, he returned to Pender and married Lillian Ann Fredericksen on May 12, 1947. John and Ann spent many of their earlier years in Pender where John continued to work at his father's grocery store. While living in Pender, their daughter Roni Ann was born. Later they farmed northeast of Pender, and in 1951 their son Robert John was born. In 1958 John and Ann bought their own farm four miles west of Allen, Nebraska, where they lived for 48 years. John was a lifetime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and at one time served as Commander at Martinsburg, Nebraska. He also was a charter member of the Pender VFW. For several years, he and his wife were financial chairmen of St. Paul's Lutheran Church outside of Concord, Nebraska. Following his wife's death in 2006, John sold the farm and moved to Emerson, Nebraska. They had been married 60 years. John traveled from the head of the Missouri River to New Orleans with his great friend Carroll Addison and also journeyed to Alaska for several months in his old truck named Blue. He never missed his son's judo matches or football games. He was a devoted grandfather, offering support beyond measure. "Charge on", "One day at a time", and "On and on the story goes" were some of his favorite sayings. Vitamins, politics, and nature were his special interests. He loved his "Little cabin in the woods" in Emerson. John was preceded in death by his parents, his stepbrother, Bill Newman, his son-in-law Ken Force' and his wife Lillian Ann. He is survived by his children, Roni Ann and her husband Richard Medeiros of Narragansett, RI, and Robert John and his wife Maya of Lawton, OK, four grandchildren: Michelle Ann Lopes and her husband Michael, Dr. Jeremy Meyer Force' and his wife Jenny, Christopher Colt Meyer, Brittain Keely Walbrick and her husband Kyle; and four great grandchildren: Cassidy Ann Lopes, Kaitlyn Ann Lopes, Johnathan Dean Meyer, and Benjamin Kenneth Force'. The family would like to thank Terri Harder for the help she gave to their father and grandfather Memorials are suggested to the families discretion.