Dwayne "Shorty" Hahn

Dwayne L. “Shorty” Hahn passed away on October 10, 2026 at Merrick Medical Center in Central City. Funeral services will be held on Friday, October 16, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. at the Heartland Evangelical Free Church in Central City with Rev. J.J. Springer officiating.  Visitation will be on Thursday, October 15 from 5-7 p.m. at the church.  Interment will be at the Central City Cemetery.  Military honors will be provided by the American Legion Post #6.
Memorials are suggested to the Immanuel Lutheran Church, Fridhem Lutheran Church, or Heartland Evangelical Free Church.  Condolences may be sent to the family at www.soltwagnerfuneral.com.
Shorty was born on March 23, 1928 in Aurora, to Harvey H. and Hannah (Erickson) Hahn. The third of nine children, he received his nickname from a hired hand on the farm because he was shorter than his two older brothers.
Shorty attended District 45 and graduated from Polk High School in 1946. The day after graduation he traveled to Omaha where he joined the U.S. Army, 1st Infantry, 6th Division and during World War II served in Japan and Korea under General Douglas MacArthur. He attended Central Community College in Central City, and began working on a construction crew that built grain elevators throughout the Midwest. Gordon Nielsen, one of his co-workers, invited him to his family farm three miles north of Hordville, and while visiting he met the love of his life, Irene Nielsen.
He and Irene were married at Fridhem Lutheran Church on October 14, 1951 and within a year they moved to Hordville where he became manager of the Farmer’s Co-op Grain Elevator, a building he helped construct and an association that his grandfather, E.W. Hahn, helped to found in 1906. He and Irene lived in Hordville for 26 years where they raised their two children, Pauline Kay and Douglas Dwayne. During that time Shorty was a member of Fridhem Lutheran Church, served on the church board, the public school board, the city board and the volunteer fire department in Hordville. He was also a member of the American Legion PST 6 and the Masonic Lodge in Central City.
Shorty and Irene moved to Central City in 1976. He retired from the Hordville Farmer’s Co-op Elevator after serving as manager 38 years. He was elected to the Merrick County Supervisor’s Board in 1995 where he served 20 years.
When Shorty retired from the grain elevator business in Hordville he began to golf and greatly enjoyed playing the Valley View Course in Marquette for over 30 years. He and Irene served tens of thousands of pancakes to people over the years at their cabin north of Hordville and home in Central City. They could often be found on a pleasant day sitting on their front porch watching the local kids ride by on their bikes and inviting folks to join them for iced tea and a visit. At the age of 96, Shorty was featured as the oldest deer hunter in the State of Nebraska in Nebraskaland magazine. He hunted for 60 years on Prairie Island in Merrick County. To know Shorty was to have an instant friend. He was someone who would reach out to assist a person in any way he could. He always had a handshake, a smile and kind words to share.
Dwayne L. Hahn is survived by his daughter, Pauline (Scotty) Cain of Henderson, Nevada and son, Douglas Dwayne Hahn of Central City, his sister, Arlene Swanson of Brooklyn Park, MN, brothers, Dolan “Joe” Hahn of Polk and Darwin “Dob” (Cindy) Hahn of Grand Island, as well as many nephews and nieces, and his goddaughters, Sara Giese Moody of Grand Island and Karla Leaf of McPherson, KS; also Robb and Tina Schnitzler of Central City whose children, Joshua, Nicole, Aaron and Shelby, called him Grandpa.
He was preceded in death by his wife, parents, and siblings: Donald, Dick, Doyle, Shirley and Delano.
All who knew him will be comforted by the memory of his smile, the kindness he showed, the tomatoes he gave away every summer and his optimistic outlook. We’ll miss you, Shorty, but remember the line you often used after a Packer or Cornhusker loss, “The sun will come up again tomorrow.”