Howard and Evelyn Lanan

Howard Lanan (1914 ? 2009) was born in Kingston, Illinois, his wife Evelyn (1913-2011) was born in Esmond, Illinois. Howard attended a rural school and graduated from Sycamore High School in 1932. Evelyn also attended rural schools in DeKalb County and graduated from Sycamore in 1931. She received a teaching diploma from Northern Illinois Teacher?s College in 1933. She taught at Mayfield Center Rural School for 4 years and Sycamore South School for 2 years. As a youngster, Howard was a 4-H club member and exhibited beef calves at local fairs. He was also a Sycamore Future Farmer of America (FFA) member. He graduated in 1938 from Iowa State College in Ames, where he pursued a general agriculture degree. He started farming that year in DeKalb County on his grandfather?s farm on N. Annie Glidden Road, in rural Kingston. One year later he married Evelyn Elliott and together they would live on the same farm for 62 years. While the Lanans never had children of their own, they nurtured many children. Evelyn taught Sunday school for many years in addition to being the church organist for 50 years. The Lanans also shared their home with exchange students from the Philippines, Germany, India and Switzerland. The Lanans were very active in their church and C.R.O.P. (Christian Rural Overseas Program), as well as being active in the agriculture community including the Homemakers Extension, and Farm Bureau. They enjoyed traveling in the United States and overseas.