Van Eugene Hawkins

Van Eugene Hawkins of Silver Lake, Kansas, passed away on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, aged 87 years. 

Dad was born March 14, 1939, in Ness City, Kansas, to Harry E. and Sabina I. Hawkins. He married Nancy Louise Fennell on September 12, 1959, in St. Louis, Missouri, and they were inseparable during 65 years of marriage until her death in 2024. Dad is survived by four children, Mike, Scott (Cindy), Steve (Nessa) and John (Kim); fifteen grandchildren; thirteen great-grandchildren and one on the way; sisters, Sue Gramling, Paragould, Arkansas and Beth (Don) Stoecklein, Spring Hill, Kansas; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, and his siblings Mary Betz, Robert, Jeannie, Jerry, John, Dee Guhr, Jack, Karl, and Bill. 

Dad graduated from Ness City High School in 1957. He was a four-sport athlete and won awards in football, basketball and track. He once said that sports are what kept him in school. Immediately after high school Dad joined the Army and served for 9 years, with postings at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, and abroad in Korea. He attended Kansas State University on the GI bill from 1966 until 1970, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Soil Science, after which he worked for DeKalb AgResearch. This took him to Fremont, Nebraska and then in 1972 to Topeka, Kansas to manage a distribution plant. When the Topeka plant closed in the late 1980s Dad briefly went to work for Golden Harvest Seeds, following which he went full-time with the Army Reserve. He retired in 1999.

From 1973, Dad and Mom resided in Silver Lake in a country house that was home for over 50 years. That was his happy place, and most of his spare hours were spent out on the 10 acres doing maintenance, creating and completing projects, or just tinkering. He hated to sit still. Dad and Mom loved road trips, especially to visit family or to camp. He didn’t offer advice unless asked, but he always offered assistance. Dad was not a religious man, and he could liven up any gathering with a slightly inappropriate joke or comment. But in his last years, he met Jesus, and was baptized on May 16, 2026. Dad left this earth confident of his place in heaven with his beloved Nancy. He will be missed.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions be made to a charity or organization of the donor’s choice in honor of his life.

Honoring his request, cremation is planned.

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