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John William Fetrow, 97, died October 17, 2020, at his home in Ponca City, Oklahoma.
John was born on March 27, 1923, in Attica, Kansas, to Fred and Pearl Devault Fetrow. He came from a line of farmers, blacksmiths, singers and Baptist preachers. John and his sisters, Francine, Jean, and Margie were raised on a farm outside of Sharon, Kansas. Growing up, John’s chores included milking cows and tending the wheat fields with horse and plow. Typical of that era, the farm had neither electricity nor running water and he walked to a one-room schoolhouse about a mile away. He recalled difficult times during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.
Determined to build a life beyond the farm, John studied hard and graduated as valedictorian from Sharon High School. He briefly attended Northwestern State College in Alva, Oklahoma before enlisting in the Army in 1942. During World War II, John was trained as a radio operator and was eventually deployed to China. After the war, John used the GI Bill to attend his beloved Kansas State University where he graduated with an electrical engineering degree. During a university dance, he met the love of his life, Nada Weddle, a home economics student from Lindsborg, Kansas.
John and Nada were married in 1949 at Messiah Lutheran Church in Lindsborg. They soon moved to Louisiana for what would be John’s first and only employer, Conoco. As an Engineer in Conoco’s Geophysics department, John helped explore the oil fields of West Texas, the northern slopes of Alaska and the deserts of Tunisia. He and two colleagues developed several patents involving communications with offshore drilling rigs. John moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma in 1952 where he retired from Conoco after 36 years. John enjoyed traveling, golfing at the Country Club, gardening, and like his father, woodworking. He especially enjoyed crafting things for his children and grandchildren – including doll beds, tables for toy trains and treehouses.
John and his wife Nada, who recently passed away, were kind, compassionate and practical people. Throughout their lives, their house was a second home to friends and family alike. John and Nada were long time members of First Lutheran Church. They lived the values of their faith, cherished their family, were loyal to friends and deeply patriotic. They will be dearly missed. John is survived by one sister, Jean Roberts of California; his children, Janet Gruenenfelder, John F. Fetrow and Joyce Fetrow Miller, of Dallas, Texas; six grandchildren and one great-grandson.
A Celebration of Life Ceremony will be held at a later date in Lindsborg, Kansas where he will be laid to rest alongside Nada at the Elmwood Cemetery.
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