John was born September 25, 1941 to Henry and Agnes Pranger in Beilen, Holland. John’s family immigrated to Canada in April of 1950, and settled in the town of Lucan, Ont. After finishing school, he decided to pursue work on the West Coast and eventually settled in the community of Agassiz where he met and married his sweetheart of 51 years Sylvia Lanting. After a few jobs with the Hwy. Dept he was employed with the Agassiz Research Station where he was head of maintenance.
During these years he furthered his education in the Electrical, Plumbing and Gas Fitting Trades. His 23 years at the Research Station were full of enjoyment with his work family. In 1996 he took early retirement and took courses in picture framing and started a new venture of self employment.
John was Agassiz’s well known handyman who could be seen biking to and from fix it jobs, there was no job too big or small for John. Helping others gave him pleasure. John loved to serve others and the Lord. He went on many disaster relief missions with World Renew to North Dakota, North Carolina and Texas to help provide housing to those in need.
Faith and family were paramount in John’s life. He was the 4th of 10 siblings Jake (Connie), Hugh (Patsy), Joanne (Piet deceased) Schalk, Jannette (Adrian) Van Dop, Henry (Mary Lee), Earl (Brita), Cor (Diane), Mary, William (Joanne). He is also survived by his wife Sylvia (Lanting) and son Luke (Tanya) and three grandsons Ty, Brady and Fynn who were the joy of his life.
Thank you to family and friends who cared for and supported John and his family through the last difficult years. A special thank you to the loving staff at Cheam Village and all who were involved in John’s care, your kindness and patience will not ever be forgotten.
A Memorial will be held on Saturday Sept 1, 2018 at Agassiz CRC @ 10:30 am. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to World Renew Disaster Relief or the Kent Harrison Foundation
