John Herman Hanusa

John Hanusa, age 88, passed away peacefully at his home in Celeste, TX on March 27, 2024. He was born to George and Emilia (Kile) Hanusa on January 25, 1936, in Loganville, WI. John was a graduate of Reedsburg High School and served in the Air National Guard. He would later go on to graduate from Milwaukee School of Engineering.

In 1964 he married Vail Kenney and later would adopt two daughters. In 1977, he moved his family from Iowa to Texas to work with Collins Radio, where he enjoyed a brilliant and celebrated career as an aeronautical engineer. He would go on to work for E-Systems, Raytheon, and L3 Harris communications.

He invented and was later awarded a patent for an antenna that uses a very high frequency line of sight to go on the winglet of an aircraft. He was also a FAA representative on certain projects for his company.

John loved flying his Mooney airplane and flew with his family on several vacations. He would later go on to use his plane for several rescue and recovery missions for Civil Air Patrol, in which he was very active. He was an avid gun collector and enjoyed target practice and reloading his own ammunition.

Also, there were a couple of Farmall H tractors he might have been obsessed with during his lifetime.

John is survived by his wife Claudia; daughters Heidi (Larry) Riddle, and Jennifer (Steven) Stewart; sister Donna Bergman; grandsons Jeffrey Williams, Lawson Williams and multiple other grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his parents, his first wife Vail Hanusa, and his second wife Virginia Johnson.

Funeral services for John will be held on Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at 11:00 am at the Farber Funeral Home in Reedsburg with Chaplain Mike Amberg officiating. Visitation will also be on Tuesday, at the funeral home from 10:00 am until the time of service.  Burial will follow services at St. John's Cemetery in Reedsburg.

Services will be live streamed. Please see link below.

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