John Wesley Hauer, 86

John Wesley Hauer, 86, was called to his heavenly home Wednesday night, Feb. 18, 2015.

John was born in Elgin, Ill., to Wesley and Hulda Hauer on July 8, 1928. John was an eagle scout and avid outdoorsman throughout his life. He was an accomplished swimmer and basketball player.

John participated in a yearly summer live enactment of Longfellow's "Song of Hiawatha," where he met his future wife. He was fascinated by American Indian lore and early U.S. history. John graduated from Elgin High School in 1945 and attended Michigan State College (now University) graduating with a bachelor's degree in forestry.

During the Korean War, John served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, converting Air Force shops from piston to jet maintenance. During his military service he returned home and married his sweetheart, Shirley Ann Sodt, of Elgin, Ill.

After an honorable discharge from the Air Force in 1951, John and his new bride moved to western Montana to start their life adventure together. He soon joined the U.S. Forest Service. Early in his career he cruised timber in the Glacier Park area and lived in a frontier ranger station in Coram, Mont. From there he became assistant ranger of the Tally Lake district in Whitefish, Mont., and was then promoted to ranger of the Falls Ranger District north of Priest River, Idaho.

Through these years John fought forest fires during some explosive fire seasons, like the summer of 1967 with the Sundance and Trapper Peak fires. In his final years with the St. Joe and Coeur d'Alene (now Idaho Panhandle) forests, John was chief of timber sales. He always preferred being out in the woods, near to nature, heeding his call of the wild.

John was an active member and elder of the Coeur d'Alene First Presbyterian Church. He served as ruling elder a number of times, was a driving force behind building the new church facilities, and was a dogged salesman at the annual Christmas tree sale. John also served on multiple pastor-seeking committees.

John and Shirley raised two sons, Thomas and Samuel. Both John and Shirley learned to fly and obtained their private pilot's licenses. John was a member of the "49 and one-half" offshoot of the Ninety-Nines, an organization of women pilots. Upon retiring from the Forest Service after 30 years of service, John started a native shrub nursery in order to get closer to his beloved land. After 15 years at the nursery, he retired for a second time. Shirley passed away in 1998.

John was blessed to again find love later in life. He and Carla Loats married in 2003. They enjoyed their mutual interests of travel, family, and boating on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Though John was a strong and healthy man all of his life, he was finally knocked down by multiple medical issues over the last few years. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by family. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

John was preceded in death by his first wife, Shirley. He is survived by his wife, Carla, of Coeur d'Alene; sons Tom (Lynn) of Post Falls and Sam (Dale) of Redmond, Wash.; stepdaughters Debbie Tolzmann (Dennis) of Coeur d'Alene and Sandy Law (Brent) of Boise; stepson Randy Loats of Huntington Beach, Calif.; seven grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

The memorial service will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25, at the First Presbyterian Church, Coeur d'Alene. A reception will follow the service at the church.

The family requests that you help a stranger in need, as our Lord Jesus did, and as John repeatedly did.

Yates Funeral Home is in care of arrangements.

You may visit John's online memorial and sign his guestbook at www.yatesfuneralhomes.com.