Allen C. Airhart

Allen C. Airhart, age 96, of Mt. Carroll, Illinois died Thursday, December 15, 2011 at home. A memorial service will be held 6:00 p.m. Saturday, December 17, 2011 at the Frank-Law-Jones Funeral Home, Mt. Carroll. Reverend Teri Lafferty will officiate. Visitation will be held from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. Saturday, December 17, prior to the service at the funeral home. Inurnment will follow at a later date in the Wheaton Cemetery, in Wheaton, Illinois.
Allen has lived in Carroll County his entire life, and has spent all of his many years working to keep the place a vital area in which to live.
Born on a farm north of Savanna, the son of Henry and Nora (Weymack) Airhart, he was schooled at the Walnut Grove country school, and Savanna Township High School. As an adult, he went to Highland Community College taking agriculture courses from U. of I. Instructors.
Allen’s first wife Jean (Mackenzie), died in 1983. In 1989 Allen married Josephine (Coady), with whom he traveled extensively and made a home in Mt. Carroll, where Allen lived since 1967. Josephine passed away December 2, 2007.
During his working years he farmed in Woodland Township for 30 years, managed the office of Production Credit Union for 14 years, and worked for 16 years with his son in Wheaton building homes.
He’s served, and held top offices on many job boards, including the Northern Illinois Land Council, Carroll Services Board for 22 years, Soil Conservation Board, Methodist Church, the Northern Illinois Area Agency on Aging Advisory, the Golden Meals Board in Rock Falls, and the Carroll County Council on Aging Board.
Allen has said that it’s his good fortune to have been a part of the beginnings of so many operations in Carroll County and to have experienced life in the horse and buggy days, before phones and electricity. He has spent his working years in the Industrial Age, and spent the rest of his retirement in the Technological Age.
Allen will be dearly missed by three sons, Mac (Vonla) Airhart, of Wheaton, Illinois, Steve (Anne) Airhart, of Marmora, Ontairo, Canada, Bob Airhart, of Savanna, Illinois; five grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Allen is preceded in death by both wives; one brother Elmer; and a sister Virginia Haring.