Funeral services for 98-year old Lloyd “Sunny” Alderman were held Sept. 5, 2023 at the Hoch Funeral Home in Ainsworth, NE with Pastor Gary Graesser officiating.
Pallbearers were: Robert, Zane and Adam Alderman, Zach Lockwood, Bruce Rowley and Dale White.
Honorary pallbearers were: James, Vance, Jonn and Brennan Alderman, Scott and Brandon Rowley, and Vic and Bill Young Sr.
Burial was in the Newport Cemetery in Newport, NE with military honors by the Newport and Bassett, NE American Legion Posts.
Sunny was a member of the Newport Volunteer Fire Department for many years, so memorials have been suggested to the department in Sunny’s name. They may be mailed in care of Hoch Funeral Home, 1320 E. 4th St., Ainsworth NE 69210.
Online condolences may be left at www.hochfuneralhome.com
Hoch Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements for Lloyd “Sunny” Alderman.
Lloyd James “Sunny” Alderman was born January 3, 1925 in Newport to James Russell and Martha Elizabeth (Brown) Alderman. He passed away on August 26, 2023 at the Oregon Veterans Home in Lebanon, OR.
Sunny was the descendent of Nebraska pioneers both on his paternal and maternal sides. The Alderman family of Virginia came to Nebraska Territory when their uncle, Richard Brown, founded historic Brownville, NE in 1854.
The family moved on to the fertile Sandhills in north-central Nebraska in 1890 and founded a large hay shipping business. Sunny first began working with his father and uncles in the hay fields when he was 7 years old.
Later he delivered hay throughout Nebraska and its bordering states, and to contracts the family had with the U-S Cavalry at Ft Robinson, NE and Ft Riley, KS.
Sunny quit high school his senior year in 1943 to join the Army. He was a medic in the Medical Corp attached to the 1302 Engineers during WWII. In 2018, he was recognized for his service by a Journey of Heroes honor flight to Washington, D.C.
Sunny married Laura May Hutcheson of Bassett, NE in 1948. Soon after their marriage, they opened Alderman’s Market in Newport. Sunny eventually became an engineer on the Chicago & NorthWestern Railroad and the family moved to Chadron, NE where they lived for many years.
Sunny later became a boilermaker for Combustion Engineering, an international company that developed power generating systems. This took the family to live in several western states. The family also owned Alderman’s Thriftway grocery store in Rifle, CO.
Sunny and Laura retired to Newport in 1983, but quickly founded two more businesses: Alderman’s Sales & Service of TV satellite dishes, and Sunny’s Convenience Store & Truck Stop.
In later life, Sunny said that the Chicago & NorthWestern Railroad was his favorite job of his many varied careers. He said, “I sometimes sit and wonder how I did it all!”
They also became members of the Newport Action Group and were instrumental in obtaining two large Nebraska Economic Development Grants for their small town.
Sunny served as Newport’s mayor for 16 years and concurrently as Rock County Commissioner for 8 years after being reelected mayor on a write-in vote.
On the state level, he was appointed to the Governor’s Advisory Council and Nursing Home Advisory Council. He also served on the Sandhills Mental Health Board and other regional boards and committees.
Those committees included ones that developed the recreational Cowboy Trail across northern Nebraska, and obtained federal National Scenic River status for Nebraska’s Niobrara River.
His nickname came as a result of his big smile and happy nature as a child. Throughout his 98 years Sunny lived up to his nickname. He was positive, optimistic, generous, and good-natured.
He never forgot a joke and never met a stranger. It was an endearing family joke that he once had a long conversation with a caller who mistakenly dialed the wrong number.
At the Oregon VA Home, he would come out of his room every morning and shout, “Good Morning America!” before he sat down to work his daily crossword and Sudoku puzzles, or play cribbage, the game he loved the most.
Sunny loved sports and as a younger man pitched baseball. He also loved to fish, especially salmon and deep-sea fishing, and regularly took his family to stay at the beach.
He loved music, loved to sing, and could do a very passable Dean Martin croon. His wife, Laura, always said that he was a good dancer during the Big Band era. Amazingly he danced until he was 97 years old at the Oregon VA Home dances.
Sunny always told his children “Love ya!” before he hung up the phone. And he was so very loved in return. One of his life-long friends said Sunny was the most beloved person that he’d ever met.
Sunny was preceded in death by his wife of 68 years, parents, sister Evelyn (Alderman) Young, and his son Chadd Alderman.
He is survived by his children: Jann (Bob) Reichenberg of Jefferson, OR; James Alderman of Albany, OR; Vange (Keith Jorgenson) Alderman of Seaside, OR; Vance Alderman of Lincoln, NE; Jonn Alderman of North Platte, NE; Robert (Sheryl) Alderman of Lincoln, NE; and daughter-in-law Jeanne Alderman of Fults, ILs.
He is also survived by 16 grandchildren: Flyne, Zach, Shyanne, Zane, Andrea, Shannon, Sausha, Chelsey, Brennan, Ashley, Adam, Bruce, Scott, Kyra, Brooke, and Brandon; 26 great-grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews.
Your father was always smiling and he made me feel very welcome when I was at your house. Like I told u Vange I always liked Youu brother Chad’s name and knew my first son was going to have that name and does. Love to all. God bless u.