John Bartels

I guess God decided he needed someone in heaven to lead the John Deere tractor parade today, March 4, 2023. He called our brother, John Bartels, to his heavenly home. John was at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, MN when he received the call.
John was born April 26, 1941 to Herbert and Verona (Prinz) Bartels in Elma, IA. He attended Afton #5 country school in Howard County and graduated from Riceville High School in Riceville, IA in 1959 and joined the United States National Guard.
John joined his Dad on the Bartels family farm near Elma. He continued farming with his Dad and purchasing his own farm land. His first love was farming, and he earned the title of a "very successful farmer". He was proud of his farms and he was a good steward of the land. He tiled the land if it was too wet and he practiced good conservation by planting grass waterways to prevent soil erosion. Not only did he farm many acres, he worked at the John Deere plant in Waterloo, IA for over 30 years.
In John's younger years he enjoyed snowmobiling and several trips to Colorado on his motorcycle. In his later years, he collected and restored antique Oliver tractors, acquiring a complete set of the 550 through 990 diesel series. His interest than turned to the 4020 John Deere series because of his nostalgia for building parts for them at the Waterloo plant.
His greatest joy was sharing his love for his tractors with his nieces, nephews and brother, driving in tractor parades or competing in tractor pulls.
His nieces have fond memories of "helping" John on the farm whether it was picking up rocks (a job they hated), learning to drive a pickup truck or taking a tractor and wagon from one farm to another, even running in the ditch sometimes.
John was kind, thoughtful, patient and fiercely independent. He was a man of few words, unless he was talking about his tractors or farming. His family will miss his sharp wit and sense of humor.
John is survived by his sisters, Jane Windhorst of Lake City, MN and Phyllis Rademacher of Rochester, MN, sister in-law, Judy Bartels of Riceville, IA and many nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Donald "Bart" Bartels and brothers in-law Orie Windhorst and Don Rademacher.