Jimmy H. Hatchett

Jimmy H. Hatchett, 83, of Greenwood Village, CO passed away peacefully on May 16, 2019 surrounded by his family. Jimmy was born on June 2, 1935 in Reed, OK to Cohoma L. ""Doc"" and Ruby L. Hatchett. He was raised in Magnum, OK, where he graduated from Mangum High School in 1953. He then joined the U.S. Army, spending some that time stationed in Japan, until 1956, where he was honorably discharged. He attended Cameron College in Lawton, OK, where he met Diane Pearce. The two struck up a conversation while chatting with friends in a bookstore line. Diane immediately found Jimmy very handsome, Mature, respectful, and a bit shy. They started dating, and fell in love and married on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1957. After Jimmy completed his Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in entomology from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK, they moved to LaFayette, IN, where Jimmy earned his Ph.D. in entomology from Purdue University. After the births of their two daughters in 1964 and 1971, they settled down in Manhattan, KS to raise them. Jimmy worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for 40 years, spending the majority of that time doing research at Kansas State University in Manhattan, where he also served as adjunct professor of entomology. He wrote and published hundreds of research articles for many distinguished research journals, in addition to teaching and mentoring several graduate students. His ultimate accomplishment in his work, alongside professional colleagues in wheat breeding, was successfully developing a wheat plant resistant to the Hessian fly, which severely damages wheat in the U.S. Midwest, and other countries. He also traveled to Morocco, Africa, helping to establish research stations to develop and grow resistant wheat. Jimmy's daughter, Emily, recalls how he once told her he enjoyed going to work every day.

Jimmy is survived by his wife Diane, of the home, daughter Sabra Deeann Bohnenblust of Riverside, MO, daughter Emily Jane Becker and son-in-law Lance T. Becker of Greenwood Village, CO, granddaughter Danyea Bliss Dickson of Riverside, MO, grandsons Jalen Lewis Dickson of Iowa City, IA, and Eli James Becker & Lawson Pearce Becker of Greenwood Village, CO, and many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his only brother, Monte Joe Hatchett, and sister-in-law, Gaye Hatchett, his grandparents, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins, all of whom will joyfully greet him and welcome him into Heaven.