John Michels

JOHN MICHELS

Delhi

John Paul Michels, 92, of Delhi, died Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014, in Manchester. Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, at Delhi United Methodist Church. The family will greet friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 1, and again from 10 to 11 a.m. Tuesday at the church. Burial will be at Evergreen Cemetery, Delhi.

John was born Aug. 30, 1922, in Des Moines, Iowa. He attended Delhi Public School, where he excelled in math, baseball and basketball. After graduation he enlisted in the Army and was stationed at Camp Ross in Los Angeles, where he served as an MP. In 1944, he married Eleanor and the two returned to Delhi to raise a family and live for the next 70 years.

For 30 years, John worked as a field technician for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An avid nature lover, he knew every insect, snake, plant and farm dog by name. He loved birds and faithfully fed them year around, prompting the neighbors to speculate that his activities had affected migratory bird patterns.

John was a great community organizer – a longtime member of the American Legion and the Delhi Volunteer Fire Department. As president of the Delaware County Baseball League, he was often pressed into service as a pinch hitter and umpire. Following his "career" in baseball, he organized horseshoe tournaments and won first place in his division at the Iowa State Fair in 1981. The inter-denominational men's fellowship group John helped organize met every Saturday for over 25 years, exchanging life stories and jokes collected during the week.

John is survived by his wife, Eleanor; daughter, Connie of Las Vegas; grandson, Jon Keenan of Los Angeles; daughter, Nancy (Robert) of Lake Elmo, Minn.; sisters-in-law; a brother-in-law; nieces and nephews.

Please share a memory of John at www.murdoch funeralhome.com under obituaries.