John L. Baldwin

Mr. Baldwin died Friday, May 14, 2004, at Hutchinson Hospital.

He was born May 10, 1929, in Great Bend, the son of Orville L. and Ruth Shafer Baldwin.

He graduated from Great Bend High School in 1947 and later from Hutchinson Junior College.

Mr. Baldwin worked for Dillons for nearly 49 years, starting in the meat department in 1946 in Great Bend. In 1972 he became president of Kwik Shop Inc., a convenience store division of Dillon Cos. Inc. He was promoted to executive vice president of Dillon Stores in 1979, and became president in 1982. He became chairman of the executive committee of Dillon Stores in 1983, and retired from that position in June 1995.

He was a member of Trinity United Methodist Church. He also was a past board member and chairman of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Kansas Water Authority, the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center and KCSC Foundation. He also was a past board member of Kansas Agriculture and Rural Leadership Inc. and Millers Enterprises Food Stores in Crescent City, Fla. He was a member of the Kansas Food Bank, Emporia State University School of Business Council of Advisors and the Eisenhower Foundation in Abilene. He was a volunteer and board member of Reins of Hope therapeutic horseback riding program. He also was a longtime volunteer and supporter of the Boy Scouts of America and a recipient of the Silver Beaver Award.

He married Roseanne Thompson on Sept. 6, 1953, in Great Bend. She survives, of the home.

Other survivors include two sons, Mark, Wichita, and Mitchell, Overland Park; two daughters, Sheri Kay, Chicago, and Stephanie Moncrief, Plano, Texas; two brothers, Jack D., San Diego, and Jim D., Denver; two sisters, Janette McCullough, Lawrence, and Joan Murphy, Minneapolis; and six grandchildren.

The family suggests memorials to the John L. Baldwin Memorial Fund, sent in care of the Hutchinson Community Foundation, P.O. Box 298, Hutchinson 67504-0298.