Dr. John Boone Simpson, a World War II veteran and large-animal veterinarian, died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Roanoke , Mo. , on Saturday at the age of 88.

 Simpson was born on Nov. 23, 1922, in Fayette , Mo. He was the son of Rachel Denny Simpson and James Morgan Simpson, who both preceded him in death. He spent his childhood in Fayette and farms in Roanoke , where he learned a deep appreciation of the land, animals and all nature.

 He attended Central Methodist College in Fayette and the University of Missouri in Columbia , but left college in 1942 to sign up for the U.S. Army to serve during World War II. He served in the Pacific theater and Japan , before returning to Missouri at the end of the war.

 He ran into a former professor at a gas station where he was working, who told him he was starting a veterinarian school at the University of Missouri . He asked Simpson if he wanted to enroll. Simpson, a tall, strapping young man, used the GI bill to attend, and was in the first graduating class of the school of veterinarians at the University of Missouri in 1950, an honor of which his family is very proud. Until his death, he was one of five living members of the class.

 Shortly after graduation, he took a job with the United States Department of Agriculture, an agency where he spent his entire career. His first post was in Mexico , where there were outbreaks of hoof and mouth disease in cattle. He worked there three years working shoulder-to-shoulder with veterinarians from Mexico and the U.S. There he met Rosa Maria Zamora, whom he married in February 1952.  They had two daughters.

 He lived  in the northeastern Missouri town of La Plata for many years, and inspected livestock throughout the area for the USDA. He never had a desk job, but rather worked outside, traveling from farm to farm until he retired in 1978. He moved back to his beloved home of Roanoke in 1990, after Rosa Simpson died in 1987.

 In 1990, he met Evelyn Richardson, whom he married in the spring of 1992 at their beautiful Roanoke home. They have spent wonderful retirement years in Roanoke celebrating birthdays and holidays and everyday miracles with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He loved his family, his mid-Missouri rural heritage, the land, animals and nature in general. He loved history, genealogy, growing trees and plants, reading and keeping up with the world, especially the weather. He loved being outdoors, especially on the land where he spent his childhood.

 Simpson is survived by his wife, Evelyn Simpson of Roanoke; his children, Rachel Barkley (Bill Barkley), of Overland Park, Kansas; Elizabeth Earley (Steve Earley), of Chesapeake, Va.; Pam Jensen (Paul Jensen); Mike Russell (Barb Russell); his sister, Mary Francis Wheeler of Fayette. He was preceded in death by another sister, Jamie Brady of Kansas City . Survivors also include his grandchildren, John, Rose and Stuart Barkley; Taylor and Grace Earley, Jennifer (John) Carson, Amy (Mike Smith); Justin Russell; Jaime (David) Miller; and great-grandchildren, Emily, Isabelle, and Oliver Carson; Madeline, Laura and Jacob Smith and several nieces and nephews

 Services will be on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, at 2 p.m with Rev. James Bolin officiating.  Visitation will start at 1 p.m. at Friemonth-Freese Funeral Home in Fayette, MO. Burial with military honors will be at Walnut Ridge Cemetery in Fayette.  The family suggests donations be made to the University of Missouri College of Veternary Medicine or the Roanoke Presbyterian Church in care of the funeral home.