John F. Drews

1934 - 2026

Lake Mills, WI - John Frank Drews, age 91, Lake Mills, went home to our Heavenly Father on Sunday, March 1, 2026, surrounded by family.

John was born in Nekoosa, Wisconsin on November 14, 1934, to Edgar and Mabel Drews. He was the second of five children: Janet, John, Frank, Carol and Margaret. He often remarked how much he enjoyed his childhood years filled with family, fishing, ski jumping, football, basketball and related sports. John graduated from Nekoosa High School in 1952.

He married his high school sweetheart Emily Barbara Keller on July 31, 1954. They were a couple everyone enjoyed being around. John and Emily had four children: Marilyn, Bill, Julie and Laurie. They enjoyed their early years traveling between Wisconsin and Texas with John being a painter of electrical power stations, power lines and water towers. They often told stories of their great travelling adventures. On April 1, 1962, John and Emily bought their current home in Lake Mills.

In 1959 John started working at Oscar Mayer in Madison, retiring in 1989.

John's family was the most important legacy of his life.

Second to his family, John loved flying. In the 1970's John started building a WW1 replica biplane from scratch in the basement of his home. This was quite a story at the time and all the neighbor kids were aware of the airplane in the basement. John soon got his pilot's license and began flying his biplane.

John rebuilt several WW2 trainer aircraft including a PT26 (Primary Trainer), PT23, BT13 (Basic Trainer) and TIMM. Most of these aircraft are now in museums. The TIMM was a wooden trainer and is the only one of its kind airworthy today.

In 1969 John became a lifetime charter member of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and flew his aircraft into Oshkosh for display at the yearly airshow receiving numerous awards.

John is well renowned in the aircraft world for his experience, knowledge and aircraft restoring abilities. He has been featured in several magazine articles and is respected by the aircraft community. John had an engineering mind and could design, build and fix anything.

John was a lifetime member of the Moravian church in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. He was an honest man of integrity. He enjoyed his life as a Christian and would read daily scripture. John's ministries include being a Sunday School teacher, Usher, and many other church activities.

John was preceded in death by his wife Emily, daughter Marilyn, his parents Edgar and Mabel, his brother Frank and sisters Janet and Margaret.

John is survived by his sister, Carol Anderson; children William (Lorraine), Julie (Dave) Wendt, Laurie (Paul) Albrecht; son-in-law, Peter (Jane) Berg; grandchildren, Ashley, Andrew, Gretchen, Peter, Hannah, John, Lucy and Travis; step-grandchildren, Anthony, Peter and great grandchildren, Mia, Ada, William, Cora, Evelyn, Ellis, August and Oliver.

John was a beloved Christian, husband, son, father, brother, uncle, grandfather, great grandfather and friend. He will be greatly missed.

Visitation will be held at 12 noon on Sunday, March 8, 2026, at the Mamre Moravian Church, N9027 County Highway Q, Watertown, Wisconsin, 53094 with memorial service at 1:00 PM.

A light lunch will follow.

If desired, memorials may be made to the Mamre Moravian Church.

www.claussenfuneralhome.com