John Gnadke

John Gnadke, age 82, passed away on December 14, 2023.
A joint funeral service for John and Carol will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 6, 2024, at Ankeny Baptist Church (2842 SW 3rd St. Pl.) with visitation from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. The service will be live streamed at https://livestream.com/ankenybaptist/events/11044951.
John Theo Gnadke was born April 7, 1941, in Good Thunder, MN to John W. and Esther (Schneider) Gnadke. During his childhood in this small farm community, life was difficult at times and quite simple. He even took pleasure in finding toys and bicycles near dumpsters, bringing them home and fixing them up for play. He enjoyed fishing, hunting, and sports. He loved to tell the story of leaving a toad on a makeshift fishing pole fashioned out of a twig and coming back to find a catfish later that would be eaten for dinner. John learned a love of cooking from his mother, and he learned mechanics from spending time at the local Fitzsimmons farmstead. He attended St. John's Lutheran Grade School and Good Thunder High School, graduating in 1959.
John enlisted in the Air Force a year after graduation and worked as a mechanic on the aircraft. He loved what he learned in the military and all the travel he was able to do, including Japan and England. He was stationed at Forbes AFB in Topeka, KS. Upon honorable discharge in 1964, he moved to the Mankato, MN area and held several different jobs including propane delivery for PhilGas. Soon he met a waitress at The Happy Chef, Carol Eide, whom he later married in 1969. They settled down in North Mankato, MN.
In 1970, John the entrepreneur and his friend started a new dealership – Modern Grain Systems in Amboy, MN. They sold grain dryers, large storage bins and assisted farmers with new construction sites with state-of-the-art grain handling systems.
During this time, he became an accomplished pilot who learned to closely watch the weather and began flying with his purchase of a Cessna 150-definitely his favorite new pastime. He used his new toy for business and Canadian fishing trips for some of his customers. John and Carol enjoyed a "Flying Farmers" group trip to Central America for 20 days stopping at designated cities/countries along the way to Costa Rica and back home.
In 1977, John and Carol moved to the Farmamerica acreage in Waseca, MN. They built onto the original farmhouse and enjoyed the country life with their young family, which had now grown to 3 with the birth of Melanie.
During this time, John started working for Beard Industries as a District Sales Manager traveling all over the Midwest. Summers included time with his family as they used a travel trailer to head west staying in campgrounds all the way to Seattle and back. John worked days with grain dealerships while Carol and the kids played all day.
In 1986, having busy teenagers warranted a move into town close to schools, ballfields and church. In 1988, he took a leap of faith, confident in his skills and started his own company, Advanced Grain Systems, Inc. He was now a consultant to farmers sharing years of wisdom ascertained from his experience with grain drying equipment.
John and his family moved in 1992 to greener pastures in Ankeny, IA. He was able to eventually partner with Pioneer Hi-Bred International as a Consultant. Pioneer had him traveling all over the US and Canada giving workshops and "Quality Grain Care" seminars to Seed customers. John authored a complete manual entitled:. He would give them tips on how to grow, harvest, dry, and store their corn and soybeans. If they followed his recipe for success, they were guaranteed the best price for their bushels. John preferred to travel to these meetings by van since he had so much equipment to bring. He always preferred the Chrysler brand vehicles, treated them with tender care and racked up over 2 million miles on those vans.
John loved to meet new people and hear about their lives. He could easily talk to a humble farmer or an Ag professional with a Ph.D. He built a business on experience and hard work, without a formal education. John worked until Covid prohibited gatherings and meetings of any sort. So retirement finally came at age 80. While farmers still managed to find his phone number and ask grain related questions, he mostly enjoyed his time with Mom now and taking care of the yard and house.
Soon, the awful disease of dementia slowly took over his mind and his abilities. We never thought we would witness the day Carol would be driving John around. On Memorial Day 2023, his shuffling walk ended in a life-changing fall on the concrete outside of the hospital going to visit Carol, who had just had a heart attack. This brain injury made his mind even worse. The only place he could go after hospitalization was a specialized Alzheimer's care center. That injury caused a significant decline in his abilities, especially walking. One thing after another that he enjoyed or was able to do, slipped away, until he could no longer use his phone or tv, walk or talk–all of his favorite things. He still recognized family and was able to say a few words. Carol committed to driving 30 minutes to Urbandale to visit him every other day, making sure staff was taking care of him, he was eating and drinking well, watching DVDs and even had them load John up in her van and he had many driving-only field trips to Culver's, Ankeny, and elsewhere. Their last visit together at the facility included watching a DVD about Heaven. John was able to say, "I hope that's not too far off".
Once Carol became ill in November, the visits stopped. His health quickly began to decline. He was able to visit her one last time at her facility last week. Tuesday, John's facility called and said he was very ill and either needed the hospital or hospice, so Melanie went for the hospice admission on Wednesday the 13th. She told him the news that mom had died and was in Heaven waiting for him, whenever he was ready. Unfortunately, he was so sick at this point, that I'm not sure he understood. But perhaps he did, because he quickly joined Carol on the streets of gold the next morning. Now they rejoice together with their new and perfect bodies.
John is survived by his children: children: Connie (Jon) Brusegaard of North Liberty, IA; Randy (Heidi) Gnadke of Centerville, MN; and Melanie (André) Haddon of Pella, IA; numerous grandchildren, Jeremiah Brusegaard and Caroline Rankin of Maple Grove, MN; Ben Brusegaard of North Liberty, IA; Grace (Joel) Putnam of Phoenix, AZ; David Brusegaard of North Liberty, IA; Reilly (Olivia) Gnadke of Ham Lake, MN; Alexa Gnadke of St. Paul, MN; Landon Gnadke, Carter Haddon, Tyler Haddon, and Ryan Haddon. He is also survived by his sister, Anne Renkly of Arlington, SD as well as nieces and nephews.
John was preceded in death by his wife, Carol; parents; and brother-in-law, Maynard Renkly.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to:
Operation Heal our Patriots
Samaritan's Purse
PO Box 3000
Boone, NC 28607 https://www.samaritanspurse.org/education-2/operation-heal-our-patriots/
Forest Springs Camp & Conference Center
N8890 Forest Lane
Westboro, WI 54490 https://forestsprings.us/donate/detail