Calvin John Eckhardt

Calvin John Eckhardt was born on January 17, 1948, in Adams, Nebraska to Calvin Jacob Eckhardt and Lauretta Mabel Silbernagle. His father was the naval officer serving aboard a ship in the Pacific when he was born prematurely. Mom said he was so premature that the doctors wrapped him up and handed them to her to take home expecting him not to live. He was six weeks old when mom got word that her first husband had died of a massive heart attack aboard ship. Mom lived in Port Townsend, Washington at some point with her sisters and they helped take care of Calvin and his older sister Audrey. When Calvin was around 13 months old, he had a medical crisis that resulted in multiple handicaps. The greatest of these was his speech.

If you ask people about Calvin, the description would often include the word "sweet". He was loving and kind and a deep believer in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. In his 60’s, he had a stroke and a heart attack within weeks of each other. He told everyone God would heal him and he had no lasting impacts. When our sister Audrey was promoted to heaven, he traveled to Pasadena with us to help take care of her belongings and bring her home to our mother. When our mother's health failed, he cared for her until she passed. He had a few years of guarded independence before being promoted to heaven. He suffering another stroke that left him paralyzed on his right side and having more difficulty in trying to speak. In his last days, we talked about the joy he would have and finally meeting his father and would be able to speak clearly and share his thoughts and feelings with those who were promoted before him.

He died on December 5, 2022, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the age of 74, and is buried in Hastings, Nebraska. They are all together again in a family plot.