John M. Klingler, 90, died at 10:58 a.m., April 21, 2012, at Primrose Retirement Community.
He was born June 24, 1921, near Beaverdam, to Freeman and Pearl (Thomas) Klingler. On September 14, 1945, he married Virginia Schwinn, who preceded him in death on March 5, 2011.
During his first five years of school, he attended Halltown, a one-room school with eight grades and one teacher. He graduated from LaFayette-Jackson High School, where he was in the honor society, played four years of varsity basketball, and was president of FFA. At Manchester College, from which he graduated in 1943 with a B.A. degree in chemistry, he was president of his senior class and was listed in Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.
Mr. Klingler worked at Westinghouse Electric for 40 years and owned and operated his own insurance agency for 65 years. He was a member of the Pleasant View Church of the Brethren, where he taught Sunday school for many years. From the mid-1960's he attended Trinity United Methodist Church in Lima. He was a member of Lima Elks Lodge, Lima Eagles Club, Lima YWCA, and Lima YMCA Heritage Club. He long served on the committee for the YMCA "Travel and Adventure Cinema Series." He was a charter member of the Lima/Alco Sertoma Club, in which he had perfect attendance for 53 years and served as president six times. He also served as governor of Sertoma International for the Northwest Ohio - Michigan District.
For 40 years he was on the board of directors of the Children's Developmental Center of Lima. He served a term as president, and was treasurer for a number of years. The Center occupies without charge a wing of Memorial Hospital. It offers classes and bus service to developmentally challenged children from age two to school age. It is a United Way agency and gains additional support from individuals and clubs. He particularly enjoyed this activity, of which he said, "I worked hard at it. It was one of the joys of my life." In November of 2011 he was honored in a ceremony dedicating a toddler classroom of the Center in his name.
Survivors include a daughter, Linda Kammerer, of Minneapolis, Minnesota; a grandson, Joshua (Heather), of Sundance, Wyoming; three great grandsons, Micah, Isaiah, and Seth; and a brother, Charles, of North Manchester, Indiana. A second brother, Paul, died at age 10 in 1944.
Services will be at Pleasant View Church of the Brethren, 4950 Thayer Rd., at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, April 25, 2012. Pastors Mark Bowyer and Phyllis Fetzer will officiate. Burial will be at Memorial Park Cemetery. Friends may call from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, 2012, at Chamberlain-Huckeriede Funeral Home, or at the church during the hour before the service.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Children's Developmental Center of Lima.
