Kenneth Orvar Eckberg

Kenneth Orvar Eckberg was born on a farm located in Bureau Township north of Wyanet, Illinois on August 1, 1926. He was the ninth son, and the eleventh and youngest child of Olof and Ida Eckberg. His middle name of Orvar was no doubt given to him in honor of Ida's brother-in-law, Orvar Berggren, who ran a furniture shop in Sweden. During his childhood Kenneth lived and worked on various farms with his family and attended Bureau County schools until transferring to Wyanet High School from which he graduated in 1944. He was married to Mary Otis Abell on August 1, 1944. Kenneth enlisted in the Army Air Corps during late 1944. At this time, his brothers Orville, Lee Roy, Harold and Lester were also in the Army. His basic training was in Biloxi, Mississippi and later he was trained as a radar technician at Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado. He then served in the Philippine Islands and achieved the rank of Sergeant before his return to the States and discharge from the Army.

After his discharge he returned to Wyanet and moved into an apartment above the Wyanet Hardware Store with his wife and daughter Linda, who was born in 1945. During the next few years he worked in his brother Lee Roy's Texaco gas station, for Ralph Prince in Prince's Welding Shop, and for Ivy Route as a carpenter. During this time their son Robert was born in 1947. After building a new home in Wyanet, Kenneth and Mary decided they should go into business. Eckberg's Home Service was established in 1949. Their new home was sold and they moved into an apartment behind their hardware store located at 124 East Main St. in Wyanet. Kenneth did heating, plumbing and electrical work and also sold and serviced kitchen appliances and televisions. Mary ran the hardware store and did the bookkeeping. During the operation of the business, many people worked for Kenneth including his brothers, son, son-in-law, grandsons and others. The hardware store was closed in 1963, but the heating, plumbing, air conditioning, appliance, and electrical part of the business was operated out of the same location until Kenneth retired from that activity in 1993.

Always having an interest in airplanes, Kenneth flew line control models with his brother-in-law Vivan Richmond for a few years and later he took lessons to learn how to fly real airplanes. During the mid 1950's at least four airplanes were recovered in the yard behind the hardware store by Kenneth, Roger Heuer (his instructor and an A&E Mechanic), and other relatives and friends. Kenneth recovered his J-4 Piper Cub Cruiser and his Porterfield and also did a Stearman and an Aeronca Champ owned by Roger. The Cub was sold in 1958 and the Porterfield in 1959.

Having been raised on the farm, Kenneth always yearned to do some farming, so in May of 1959 he and Mary purchased a 78 acre farm located a mile east of Wyanet and named it Eckberg Acres. The farm consisted of 64 acres of tillable ground and 14 acres of pasture. The farming, tending to the livestock, and working with his antique tractors and farm machinery used up all of his spare time as all of this was accomplished during evenings and weekends. Over the years the farm saw a variety of animals, including feeder cattle, pigs, stock cows and their calves, bottle calves, sheep and various pets including turkeys, geese, ducks, guineas, a Mexican burro and cats. The pet dogs lived in the house, but in later years, Clyde, his miniature poodle, was by his side during the day. After Clyde passed away, Kenneth was without a dog for a while, but then Sadie, a black-lab-rottweiler cross was by his side day and night. His stock cows were always his favorite farm animal and they all had names. A couple even died on the farm because he could not bear to ship them for slaughter.

During 1969 Kenneth's brother Lee Roy, using a bulldozer, constructed an earthen dam in the ravine in the timber which formed a small pond named Ken Lake. It was stocked with fish and was a good place to go swimming or fishing. During 1971 Kenneth and son Bob purchased a Taylorcraft airplane and seeded down a 1500 foot landing strip on the farm and constructed a hangar. After the farm work was done, many evenings were ended with a few minutes ride in the T-Craft. The T-Craft was kept on the farm until Bob took it with him to Nebraska in 1974, but the landing strip was always maintained so Bob and his family could occasionally fly in. After having lived in the apartment behind the store for many years, Kenneth and Mary decided to build a house on the farm in 1980. The house was built in the timber, across the pond from the farm buildings, with the lane to it going across the top of the dam. This was home for them until Mary passed away in 1987. Kenneth added an additional 60 acres to the farm by purchasing adjoining land in 1993, and continued to live on the farm until his passing in 1997.

Kenneth belonged to the Wyanet Chamber of Commerce, served as Board Member for the Sapp Memorial Library in Wyanet, was a member of the Wyanet Volunteer Fire Department for some time, and was active as a member and officer of the Bureau Valley Antique Club. Kenneth thoroughly enjoyed his antique tractors and spent thousands of hours acquiring, restoring to operational condition and showing them. Some of the equipment was even occasionally used on the farm. There was always some project being worked on in the farm shop which was heated for year around use. Kenneth closed Eckberg's Home Service during 1993 and in 1994 was appointed as Road Commissioner for Wyanet Township which carried the responsibility of maintaining 41 miles of township roads and doing the planning and budgeting for them. He enjoyed this new part-time occupation and was running for re-election. On February 12, 1997, at the age of 70, Kenneth succumbed to a heart attack. He was well respected in his community and touched many people's lives. He is buried in the Wyanet Cemetery beside his wife, Mary.