John A. Lohla
LAKE WORTH, Fla. — John H. Lohla, 91, died June 21, 2004, at his home in Lake Worth, Fla.
He was born November 17, 1912, in Laurium. He graduated from Calumet High School where he was president of his senior class. He competed in basketball, track, hockey and football and was a member of the football team that won the Copper Country championship in 1929. He attended Michigan College of Mining and Technology (now Michigan Tech), where he earned a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. At MTU, he was a junior class vice president and was president of his graduation class of 1936. He was also a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and Tau Nu Tau honorary engineering society.
Following ROTC training at Michigan Tech, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. He left active duty to be employed with Detroit Edison in Monroe, Mich., but rejoined the military in 1941 to become an ROTC instructor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. He also served as drillmaster of the university’s marching band. During WW II, he was in the Army Corps of Engineers, assigned to the New York Port of Embarkation. His three brothers and brother-in-law, Arvo, Elwood and Ray Lohela and Fred Munson (all deceased), also served in uniform during WW II. Following the war, John Lohla continued in the Army Reserve and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
In 1946, he was employed for two years as an engineer with New Jersey Zinc Co. in Franklin N.J. and then returned to Detroit Edison where he was superintendent for several overhead lines divisions before retiring in 1974. He then lived in Fayetteville, N.C. for almost 20 years and moved to Lake Worth, Fla. in 1999, where he resided with his son, Jon Karl Lohla.
He is survived by three children, sons, John Karl and Jerry A. Lohla of San Diego, Calif; a daughter Judith A. Robison of Burke, Va.; and four grandchildren.
The family plans a memorial service in San Diego in July and a graveside service at Lake View Cemetery in Calumet in September.
Friends of the family may send donations to their local hospice organization.