{"id":40819,"date":"2026-06-19T10:45:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T15:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/?p=40819"},"modified":"2026-06-21T16:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T21:07:56","slug":"james-arthur-kocher-83-of-newton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/40819-james-arthur-kocher-83-of-newton\/","title":{"rendered":"James Arthur Kocher (83) of Newton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-top-right\"><a href=\"javascript: window.print()\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_self\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><span class=\"pdfprnt-button-title pdfprnt-button-print-title\">Print<\/span><\/a><\/div><p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Arthur Kocher, age 83, of Newton, Illinois, passed away at 6:08 AM on Friday, June 19, 2026, at Helia Healthcare in Olney, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 11:00 AM \u2013 Friday, June 26, 2026, at Saint Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Sainte Marie, Illinois, with Father Pawel Luczak celebrating mass.\u00a0 The burial will be in the Mount Calvary Cemetery in Newton, Illinois, with military rites by the Sainte Marie American Legion Post #932.\u00a0 A visitation for family and friends will be held from 5:00 to 7:00 PM on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at the Meyer Funeral Home in Newton, Illinois, and again from 10:00 to 10:30 AM on Friday, at the church before mass.\u00a0 In loving memory of James, memorials may be made to the Mount Calvary Cemetery Fund.\u00a0 The obituary can be viewed and condolences left at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.meyerfh.com\/\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=http:\/\/www.meyerfh.com&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1782099427796000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3MnusJcagXPY5jWJfr2wOW\">www.meyerfh.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">James Arthur, better known to his family and friends as Jim, was born on August 27, 1942, near Boos, in Jasper County, Illinois.\u00a0 He graduated from Newton Community High School with the Class of 1961.\u00a0 He married Norma Jean Keolker on October 19, 1968, at Saint Jospeh Catholic Church in Stringtown, Illinois.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jim retired from the Equity West Liberty Plant after 35 years of service.\u00a0 He was a member of Saint Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church and the Saint Marie American Legion Post #932.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jim served in the United States Army Reserves.\u00a0 He was avid quail hunter and enjoyed fishing, trapping and gardening.\u00a0 Jim spent countless hours making birdhouses and shared them with family and friends.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jim is survived by:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wife \u2013 Norma Kocher<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Son \u2013 Roger Kocher (fianc\u00e9 Sarah Spade) of Robinson, Illinois<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grandchildren \u2013 Tony (Chasity) Spade of Robinson, Illinois and Lauren Douglas of Robinson, Illinois<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Great Grandchildren \u2013 Taylor Spade, Trevor Spade and Halle Douglas<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brother \u2013 Paul (Jill) Kocher of Olney, Illinois and Glenn (Georgia) Kocher<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sisters \u2013 Evelyn Edwards of Missouri and Donna Dryden of North Carolina<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sister-in-law \u2013 Kathy Ochs of West Liberty, Illinois<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Arthur Kocher, age 83, of Newton, Illinois, passed away at 6:08 AM on Friday, June 19, 2026, at Helia Healthcare in Olney, Illinois. Mass of Christian burial will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":40859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-obits"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>James Arthur Kocher (83) of Newton - Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Effingham&#039;s News and Sports Leader\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thexradio.com\/news\/obits\/40819-james-arthur-kocher-83-of-newton\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"James Arthur Kocher (83) of Newton - 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