Daily Gate City
Keokuk, Iowa
John W. Sammons
Dec. 11, 1917 - Aug. 24, 2003
John W. Sammons, 85, of Keokuk, died Sunday, Aug. 24, 2003, at Flowers Hospital in Dothan, Ala.
He was born on Dec. 11, 1917, in Hancock County, Ill., the son of Oliver and Mary Setser Sammons. He married Jeanette Ragar on Feb. 27, 1939, in Palmyra, Mo. She survives.
Additional survivors include: children, Dolly White and her husband, Harold, John D. Sammons and his wife, Bonny, and Michael D. Sammons and his wife, Kathryn, all of Keokuk and Nancy R. Holland and her husband, Charles, of Tampa, Fla.; eight grandsons; three granddaughters; and several great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by two infant brothers, Keith and Orville; a brother, Russell Sammons; and a grandson.
He was a longtime resident of Keokuk.
In 1956 he founded and was the owner/operator of John W. Sammons Construction Company.
He was a member of the First Lutheran Church of Keokuk and also was a member of the Business Men's Full Gospel Fellowship.
Mr. Sammons was a member of the American Rifle Association, Keokuk Lodge #29, A.F. & A.M., and was a past Scoutmaster of Scout Troop #69 of the First Lutheran Church.
He was an avid hunter and fisherman and loved being outdoors. Mr. Sammons enjoyed trapshooting with a gun club on his farms and enjoyed flying and having his pilot's license.
For the last 30 years, he and his wife traveled the world to various places where their daughter and son-in-law lived while his son-in-law was stationed with the United States Air Force.
Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Friday at First Lutheran Church in Keokuk, with the Rev. Don Rothweiler officiating.
Burial will be in Oakland Cemetery, Keokuk.
Visitation is today at DeJong's Funeral Home, Keokuk, with family meeting friends from 6 to 8 p.m.
Memorials may be made to the First Lutheran Church of Keokuk.
