Milford John Behrens

Milford John Behrens, 95, of rural Manlius died Tuesday, March 7, 2017, at Liberty Village in Princeton. The son of Carl F. Behrens and Mina Stier Behrens, he was born March 19, 1921. He was a lifelong farmer, who started driving a team of horses for farm work at age 14. He assisted his father with farming by hand and with horses until he entered into World War II in 1943. During the war he served with the 879th Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion as a heavy equipment operator in the CBI Theater, constructing air fields in India and Burma for American planes to land. Upon returning home from the war, he pursued a career in farming. On April 4, 1946, he married Lola Newman, originally from Kirkwood, Ill., who had been a teacher at Manlius High School. They had two children, James (Anita) of Urbandale, Iowa, and Jane Anne (Eric) Hunley of Dallas, Texas. Milford has four grandchildren, Ian and Christopher Hunley, Stephanie (Ross) Laird and Bradley Behrens, and two great-grandchildren. Milford loved God and was very active in the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Manlius, where he had served as Sunday school teacher and superintendent, and church council president. He was also active in the community, having served as a 4-H leader of the local club for several years, he was president and active in the Manlius Cemetery Board, and Manlius Lions Club. After retirement from farming he enjoyed driving horses in area parades. He is survived by a sister, Beulah Nelson; a sister-in-law, Lillian Vice; and his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; his wife, Lola (1992); a sister, Margaret Jaquet (2007); a brother, Alvin (2015); two sisters who died in infancy; a 5-year-old brother, Elmer; and a dear friend, Sadie Thompson.