Herman Bernard Lohman was born on November 17, 1908 to John and Mary Snaadt Lohman. He was born in West Point, Iowa. He married Germaine Wellman, Georgina Link Hoel’s cousin.
Hermie, as he was known was on of 11 (or 12 children) born to John and Mary. They were farmers in Pleasant Ridge Township. I found this picture of several of the Lohman children online.
Hermie Lohman lived on the family farm into the 1950’s, with his mother and brother Clem. Clem never married.
Hermie Lohman married Germaine Wellman on August 14, 1954. They continued to farm. They had one daughter. Hermie died on March 24, 1994 in Peoria, Illinois.
Germaine is mentioned in this post.
More to the story
I was discussing the post with Walt, and he remembered Hermie very well. Here are his notes.
Mom and Germaine were pretty close, so we saw a lot of her and Hermie. As I matured, and got to know him better, I came to have a great deal of respect for Hermie.
Hermie suffered a severe accident with a piece of farm equipment. Doctors feared they would have to amputate his hands and forearms, but they managed to save them. Unfortunately in those days doctors didn’t understand the importance of retaining range of motion as hands heal. Instead they kept his hands rigid so they would heal quickly. But as they healed up, they became locked into place like the hands of a GI Joe doll.
He retained a little motion in one hand thanks to his wife holding and squeezing it as he lay in the hospital. But his other remained permanently locked into a straight-fingered C shape.
Nevertheless, Hermie was able to find a way to operate a sizable farm, drive a car, and do all the other normal things than anyone might do. I still remember watching in wonder as he buttoned a shirt with his stiff fingers. He could do it almost as quickly as I could. It was quite a testament to the human spirit.
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