John "Johnny" Loken

July 3, 1927 – August 9, 2024

My Story…

I was born at home on July 3, 1927, in Windom, Minnesota. The weather was so cold that my dad had to set up the oil stove for heat to keep me warm. I have a brother, Curtis; and three sisters, Phyllis, Mary and Clarice.

My father, Clarence Loken, died when I was nine years old. My mother, Ellen Westerlund, contracted Tuberculosis and was a patient for six years in the Worthington, Minnesota TB sanitarium. I lived on a farm with the Lester Crowell family while my mother was gone.

I graduated from Windom High School June 1945. Drafted into the Army August 1945. Served in Inchon, Korea and Adak, Alaska as a heavy equipment engineer. Played hockey for the Army team. We were transported around the country in an old C-47 airplane. I received special orders from Arlington, Virginia and served in the Third Infantry in the Military Police as an Honor Guard at Arlington Cemetery. Discharged in 1949.

Married Cozette in 1953. We have two daughters, Lynette and Lorri. We lived in the city of Windom until 1955; Lakefield until 1962; Hayward, California until 1968; then returned to Windom where we live today.

When I was three years old, I went for my first airplane ride and loved airplanes. I was about nine years old when I began to build and fly model planes. I am just finishing up my last radio controlled airplane (11-foot wingspan). This plane is donated to the Windom Cottonwood County Historical Society for their World War I Museum exhibit. My mother always said 'I was just plane crazy.'

The Jackson County Race Track opened in 1953. The Gleason Brothers from Currie, Minnesota began to race there. John Leverenz and I were working at the Silliman Ford Garage in Windom (auto mechanics) and thought racing would really be a lot of fun, so we built a race car and went racing every Sunday in Jackson. (Moved later to Saturday.) We also raced in Redwood Falls, Milford and Rock Rapids, Iowa, and everywhere else they were racing.

The first race car was a 1936 Ford with the number 644. John Leverenz was the driver. In later years it was number 12. I tried driving once but at corner #2 got pushed and ran into a snow fence. The car looked like it was gift wrapped in snow fence. I had the nickname "Snow Fence John" for several years.

I was always telling jokes and a bunch of the guys thought I should be the announcer and "rev up" the audience, so I became a Saturday night fixture as announcer. When flagman, Butch Schlager, was killed at the Sioux Falls track, I helped Ward Johnson with part of the flag duties at the Jackson and Huset's Speedway tracks.

In the early years, Windom had a racetrack. Barney Oldfield and "Deb" Snyder used to run their cars down Main Street on race day for advertisement. The grandstand burned down and that took care of the racing in Windom.

I was working as a carpenter in early 1953 when a square nail flipped up and into the center of my left eye, which I lost. I began to lose all remaining eyesight in 2000 due to Macular Degeneration. I am legally blind. Attended the Hines Veterans School for the Blind in Chicago in 2007 and 2011 to learn how to be 100% self-sufficient. I use a computer which talks to me with huge letters and a separate computer to play card games, etc. with Zoom Text.

Cancer survivor in 2007; Relay for Life Honoree; Recipient of the City of Windom Mayor's Medal of Honor Challenge Award in 2009; 2012 inducted into the Jackson Speedway "Hall of Fame" as track announcer in the early years.

Aside from visiting all the dinosaur digs and visiting Denver and Vail Colorado to see my children with my wife, Cozy, my favorite pastime is duck and goose hunting and "calling them in." My hunting friends have been lifelong friends.

I am blessed to have lived a long sober life enriched by many, many friends. And, of course, the Spirit of a "good laugh."

John "Johnny" Loken, a Windom boy at heart, lived a good sober life full of curiosity and learning, gratitude, laughter and love. He cherished his wife, his daughters, his siblings and their families, and his friends. He was a source of inspiration by overcoming his challenges of cancer, blindness and alcoholism. It was a great adventure! He will be remembered and missed.