Obit: Farning, George H. (1907 - 1956)

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 
 

Surnames: Farning, Lohse, Sturgeon, Hughes, Wyer, Paulus 
 

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) August 2, 1956 
 

Farning, George H. (21 October 1907 - 25 July 1956) 
 

Approximately 700 people paused Saturday to pay their respects to George H. Farning, chief of Police of Blue Island, Ill., and a former Neillsville resident, who died Wednesday in a Blue Island hospital, where he was taken after suffering a stroke a few hours earlier. 
 

Funeral services were conducted Saturday afternoon in Blue Island, after which he was carried to his final resting place in a procession led by a seven-man motorcycle escort and 25 squad cars from that many Illinois cities.  Also represented were members of the Illinois State Police, the Cook County coroner’s office, the F. B. I. and the Joliet State Prison.  
 

Pallbearers were: Chiefs of Police Troops of six neighboring cities.  The honor guard was composed of 14 members of the Illinois Police association, and the second honor guard was members of the V. F. W. Post of Blue Island.  One hundred police officers attended the rites. 
 

George H. Farning was born in Neillsville, October 21, 1907, to the late Mr. and Mrs. William Farning.  He attended grade and high school in Neillsville, being graduated with the class of 1925.  As a young man he made his home in Blue Island, where in 1930 he was married to Catherine Lohse.  They spent the following two years in Neillsville. 
 

At one time he was acting City engineer of Neillsville, serving the unexpired term of his father, who was killed in an accident in 1933. 
 

After returning to Blue Island he was a member of the police force for many years and during the war years he worked for the Cardox Corporation of Dearborn, Mich.  He then was made Superintendent of Parks in Blue Island, a job he held for seven years, until he was appointed chief of police three years ago. 
 

Mr. Farning is survived by his wife Catherine, two sons, William and Howard, and two sisters, Mrs. Frank (Geraldine) Sturgeon of Owen and Mrs. William (Leona) Hughes of Milwaukee.   
 

Local relatives attending the rites were: Mr. and Mrs. John Wyer, Mrs. Janie Paulus and Mrs. Frank Sturgeon.