Dr. James Woodrow Krehbiel's Obituary
James Woodrow Krehbiel Sr. passed away peacefully on Tuesday, July 5, 2022 at Brookstone Estates in Charleston, Illinois at the age of 93. He had Inclusion-Body Myositis (IBM Disease) for over 15 years. James willed his body to the Anatomical Gift Association of Illinois for use in training future health care professionals and in research programs for the advancement of medical science. Adams Funeral Chapel is in charge of arrangements. At a later date, there will be private graveside memorial service at the Crestone Cemetery near the family's home in Crestone, Colorado.
James was born April 30, 1929, Newton, Kansas to John P. and Leona Stucky Krehbiel. He was raised in Moundridge, Kansas in a loving and caring family including his parents and two younger sisters, Joan and Joyce, and was educated in public schools there. He graduated with a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Bethany College, Lindsborg, Kansas in May 1951. James married Barbara Jane Brehm, daughter of Harold B. and Ruth Phillips Brehm in Pratt, Kansas on September 15, 1951. James and Barbara had three children: James Woodrow, Mark Allan and Elizabeth Ann.
James served four years in the U.S. Navy where he played in Navy bands before he and Barbara moved to Paris, France where he studied and subsequently received certificates from the Conservatoire National de Musique and the Sorbonne, Universite de Paris in 1956. He then attended Indiana University where he earned Master of Music and Doctor of Philosophy degree with majors in music theory and minor in French Literature. He spent one year teaching choral and band music at Allen High School in Bluffton, Indiana while also playing French horn in Fort Wayne Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. After that, he returned to his alma mater, Bethany College, where he taught music theory from 1960 to 1965, and then moved to Charleston, Illinois where he taught music theory at Eastern Illinois University for twenty-six years, retiring as Chairman of the Music Department in 1990. He was a member of the Illinois State Music Teachers Association (ISMTA) and served as an editor of the ISMTA Journal for a few years.
After he retired, he fulfilled a lifetime dream of becoming a pilot and was very happy when he received his pilot's license. He then began researching his ancestry in the United States, Europe, and Eastern Europe which resulted in the publication in 1995 of his books entitled Swiss Russian Mennonite Families Before 1874.
James loved to travel, hike, and fish (especially for trout in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains). He took his family on expeditions to most of the National Parks and Monuments in the Western United States, and in his lifetime traveled in 26 countries and all 50 states.
James leaves to mourn his loss his wife of over seventy years, Barbara, and three children: James (Jim) Krehbiel, Jr. and partner, Natalie Cunningham, of Albuquerque, New Mexico; Mark Krehbiel of Norman, Arkansas; and Elizabeth Kutzko and husband, Kenneth Stabinsky, of Las Cruces, New Mexico. He will also be missed by nieces and nephews. Preceding him were his parents and three sisters: Joan and her husband, Harold Collins, of Fergus Falls, Minnesota; Joyce and her husband, Charles DeForest of El Dorado, Kansas; and Kathlyn (infant) of Moundridge, Kansas. Also preceding him in death was his pet therapy cat, Topolino.
Memorials in his honor may be made out to WILL - UIF, to help with the planning of programs for radio and TV and mailed to Adams Funeral Chapel, 2330 Shawnee Drive, Charleston, IL 61920.
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