John Tessman

John Clarence Tessman, formerly of Garner, Iowa, beloved husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, passed away late Friday, June 7, 2024, at home in Riverside, Missouri, with his family by his side. He was 89 years old. 

John was born on February 17, 1935 in Ross, Iowa to Clarence and Thelma Tessman. After graduating from high school, where he drove a school bus while attending school, he enrolled in Iowa State University to study architectural engineering for two years before being called back home to help manage the family farm. He continued working in the agricultural industry in several capacities from 1955 to 1972, including as a farmer’s assistant and hired hand in charge of crop and livestock management, a manager of a feeder cattle operation, and an Operations Manager of turkey and replacement pullet flocks, with a brief stint as a UPS delivery driver and a Snap-On Tools distributor, in addition to his farming duties. He worked briefly for Winnebago Industries before finding his best fitting job in June 1973 with the Hancock County Road Safety and Maintenance Department where he maintained road signs in the spring, summer, and fall and removed snow, with a heavy equipment road snow remover that could remove 10 foot tall drifts, in the winter. He retired from his county job in September 1998. He also held various part-time jobs to keep himself busy. He was always a very hard worker. 

John was introduced to his wife, Jean Carol Turner, by his sister Joan and Jean’s brother Nelson at a dance in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They were married on October 27, 1956 and raised five daughters, Kae, Terri, Jill, Linda, and Andrea. He was very proud of all of his daughters. They settled in northern Iowa in 1969 and enjoyed camping, square dancing, and working on 4-H projects as a family.

He was a man of many talents. He enjoyed working with his hands and using his brain to master any project. He would never say that he didn’t know how to do something. He would say “ Let me think about that “, then he would figure out how to do whatever was asked of him. Over the years he built a console tube style color television from individual components from a kit that the family used as their television for many years, changed car engines, finished converting a school bus into a motor home, refurbished a burnt out Winnebago motor home, made numerous furniture pieces (from entertainment centers to wall shelves to accent tables to religious symbols) out of wood, helped remodel houses, built a garage from the ground up, finished a couple of basements and built a few decks. He was a very active member of the United Methodist Church in Garner and participated in many activities including a youth trip to the Apple River in Wisconsin. He was also very active with the 4-H Extension Council and chaperoned several 4-H exchange trips with his wife Jean. John and Jean were also charter members of both a square dance club and a square dance camping group in northern Iowa and spent several years traveling and camping with both groups. He enjoyed classic cars, classic country music, vacationing and spending time with family members, playing cards and cribbage (especially if he was winning), playing Sudoku, spending time outside working on his lawn, and spending time with his daughters’ and sons-in-law’s cats and dogs as he was a true animal lover! One of John’s favorite activities was going the fair. He and all of his girls spent many years going to both the Iowa State Fair and the Clay County Fair. John had a tendency to keep his guardian angels very busy and was fortunate to make it to 89 years old! John will be greatly missed by many!

John is survived by his wife Jean of Riverside, Missouri, daughters Kae (Barrie) Tritle of Iowa City, Iowa, Jill Adams Miller of North Mankato, Minnesota, Linda (Darrel Jr.) Swafford of Sunrise Beach, Missouri, Andrea (Aaron) Wendel of Riverside, Missouri, grandchildren Joshua, Jacob, and Michael (Kelli) Tritle, Alexander (Karen) Swafford, Bailey (Isaac) Coleman, Nicole, and Zachary Wendel, great-grandchildren Preston, Grayson, and Michael Jr. Tritle and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents Clarence Tessman and Thelma Truhlar, his sister Joan Turner, his daughter Terri Duncan, and his sons-in-law Paul Adams and Randy Miller. 

There will be a private Celebration of Life held at the Turner Family Reunion in Wisconsin in July and a friends and family celebration held at the Iowa State Fair on August 10, 2024, with details to be posted at a later date. Memorial gifts may be sent to The Cataldo Funeral Home in care of The John Tessman Memorial Fund which will be used to purchase a memorial at the Iowa State Fair in honor of John and his love for the fair.