John Lester Dietterich died at the Rhode Island Suites, Ransom, Kansas on September 1, 2016. He was born June 17, 1933 in Telford, Pennsylvania to parents Lester and Ethel (Fretz) Dietterich. John's father died when he was two years old and his mother remarried Earl Rosenberger. They moved to Phoenix, AZ when John was twelve. In 1950, John went back to Pennsylvania, lived with an Aunt & Uncle, and graduated from Sellersville-Perkasie High School. He moved to Newton, KS in the fall of 1951 to attend Bethel College where his Uncle was a professor. John received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bethel College and in later years, his Masters in Education from Ft. Hays State.

John met his wife Virginia Mishler, at Bethel College and they were married December 26, 1955. They lived in Newton, KS while John worked as an accountant for Hesston Manufacturing. John and Virginia moved to Ransom in April, 1959 and made their home on Virginia's family farm. Their two children, Valerie and Robert, were born in the Ransom hospital. John taught typing, bookkeeping, and Spanish in the Ransom High School for 11 years while farming part time. In the early seventies, he quit teaching and devoted all his time to farming and to raising registered Angus cattle which he had much success with.

John was also very involved in community and church work. Over the years he served on the Bethel College Board of Directors, the Ransom school board, many years as the First Mennonite Church of Ransom's Treasurer, and also was a member of the Ransom Lions Club for fifty years. Another of his great joys was working for Habitat for Humanity in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Hays, Kansas, and in Jamaica. Additionally, many trips were made to help Mennonite Disaster Service in flood or tornado stricken communities around the state. John was preceded in death by his mother and father, his son Robert John, his sister-in-law Evelyn Carlson, and his brother-in-law John Mishler. He leaves his wife Virginia, daughter Valerie Dietterich, sister Joan Ryder of Phoenix, AZ and four grandchildren: Alyssa (Dietterich) Rousseau of Shawnee, Kansas; Taylor Dietterich of Wichita, Kansas; Vanessa Heinrichs of Garden City, Kansas; and Logan Heinrichs at Bethel College in N Newton, Kansas.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 at 2:00 p.m. at the First Mennonite Church of Ransom. Memorial contributions may be made to the First Mennonite Church of Ransom or the Hospice of the Prairie in Dodge City, Kansas.

Words of sympathy and support may be left for the family by writing in the guest book below.