Our dear dad, Herman C. Gorton, 88, of Dubuque, IA, died peacefully, Monday, July 13, 2020, at University of Iowa Medical Center, Iowa City, IA. He was surrounded by his five children.
Dad was born July 23, 1931, the seventh of eight sons, in Moffat County, CO, where his father had homesteaded before moving to Wilson County, KS. Dad grew up living a farming life, an integral part of his identity, and we often heard tales from his youth about raising cattle and harvesting crops. In those days nearly everything they needed was produced on the farm so Dad said they never felt the shortages often associated with the Great Depression and WWII years.
After graduating from high school in 1949, Dad served in the US Army during the Korean Conflict and later graduated from Kansas State University in 1957 with a degree in Agricultural Engineering. He was recruited immediately by John Deere, initially working at the East Moline, IL, plant, before moving to the Dubuque Works. While still living in the Quad Cities he met Florence Hintermeister on a blind date and the two were married on July 15, 1961. They were long-time members of Grandview Avenue United Methodist Church, later named Grand View United Methodist Church, both in Dubuque.
Dad loved to tinker and fix things. He enjoyed going to auctions and would often return home with ‘repairable’ treasures that he obtained for a really good price. Some things would get fixed and put into service or provide repair components for other projects or for one of his custom-engineered labor-saving inventions. Among his continuously evolving projects was his quest to defend his bird feeders from squirrels. Sometimes this took on an American Ninja Warrior-like quality where the feeders were protected by obstacle courses of various spinners, sliders and baffles so that any squirrel determined to get to the seeds would really have to earn it.
Dad is preceded in death by his wife, Flo, who passed away in 2003. Of his five siblings who survived to adulthood, Archie, the oldest, was killed in action during WWII, while, sadly, his brothers John, Ray and Lloyd also recently passed away in August, 2019, May, 2020, and June, 2020, respectively.
Dad is survived by his five children and their spouses: Bill and Beth Gorton, Dean and Tami Gorton, Ken and Ligia Gorton, Mark Gorton, Ann (Gorton) and Miguel Eversley, former daughter-in-law Mandy (Currie) Gorton, 14 grandchildren, one great-grandson, his older brother Carl Gorton, 93, of Fredonia, KS and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be Friday, July 24, from 4-7 pm at Egelhof, Siegert & Casper Funeral Home and Crematory, 2659 John F Kennedy Rd, Dubuque, IA 52002 and from 9:30 a.m.-10:15 a.m. Saturday at Grand View United Methodist Church, 3342 John Wesley Dr., Dubuque, IA 52002. Funeral services will be at 10:30 Saturday at the church with Rev. Tom Shinkle officiating. Burial will be in Asbury Cemetery, Asbury, Iowa.
In lieu of flowers, memorials a Herman C. Gorton memorial fund has been established.