James Arnold Hinkle

NASHUA – James Arnold Hinkle; 95, died peacefully on the evening of Tuesday December 1, 2020 at the Community Hospice House in Merrimack, NH. He died after a long battle with angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer.

Jim Hinkle was born in Flora, Illinois on June 27, 1925, the fifth child of six born to Jessie McKinley Hinkle and Bessie Mae (Houchin) Hinkle. Around 1930, while living in Indiana, Jessie remarried and subsequently abandoned his children to the state. At age five, Jim, with his brothers and sister, began a life in an Indianapolis orphanage.

Jim remained in the orphanage until his early teens when he and his younger brother Harold were fostered by Earl and Edith Luper, a caring couple with a 300 acre farm just outside Greenwood, Indiana. Jim took willingly to life on the farm and it was there that he developed his long affection for the land and a love for growing plants of all kinds.

Following high school graduation in 1943, Jim immediately enlisted into the U.S. Navy. Because of his typing skills, he advanced quickly as a yeoman. He would spend his entire war service in the Pacific theater, serving first on the staff of Admiral Nimitz, and then later transferring to a forward joint military intelligence unit on Guam island, where he was part of the team that planned the invasion of Okinawa and the proposed invasion of Japan.

When the war ended in 1945, Jim returned to Indiana, but remained in the Navy. About that time, Jim started a romance with a local Greenwood girl, Annie P. Akers. Wedded in 1946, Anne and Jim set out to see the world, start a family, and build a secure and happy life together over the next 61 years. The family traveled the world through his navy assignments which included east coast Naval facilities, Washington D.C. and two overseas posting to Cairo, Egypt and Paris, France.

In 1967, after retiring from the Navy, the Hinkle family now with two sons, Mark and Jim and daughter Jeannie settled in Nashua where Jim took a job at Sanders Associates Inc. He enjoyed bowling, golfing, organic gardening, watching basketball and playing cards. He served his community through active membership at Main St. United Methodist Church.

Jim or “Chief” as he was known to many, will be remembered for his abundance of kindness, big personality and his remarkable ability to find connections through conversations with anyone he met. To Chief, no one was a stranger and everyone left their time with him with a smile.

He is preceded in death by his wife Anne and his daughter Jeannie. He is survived by his two sons and their wives Jim, Marguerite, Mark and Mihaela, grandchildren, Jamie, his wife Gillian, William, his wife Jennifer, Joe, Johanna and great-grandchildren, Jackie, Darcy, William, Benjamin, Charlotte and Dallas.

There are private calling hours and an outdoor graveside service on Saturday December 5th at 11:00am at Edgewood Cemetery in Nashua, NH. In lieu of flowers please send donations to the Merrimack Hospice House in Merrimack, NH.

The FARWELL FUNERAL SERVICE, 18 Lock Street, Nashua is assisting the family with arrangements. www.farwellfuneralservice.com.