Son of Marvin Henry and Maxine Johanna (Brennan)Jurgens. He has a surviving younger brother, Richard Dean Jurgens of Kansas City, MO. John grew up in Des Moines Iowa, attended Des Moines Tech until 1961, when the family moved to Kansas City, MO, where he finished high school to go right into the United States Navy. At such a young age, the Navy offered potential enlistments to sign up for a “Kiddie Cruise”, where he was able to join at his 18th birthday, and then to leave when his 21st birthday is complete. He enlisted on July 19, 1963, and was honorably discharged on August 16, 1966. During his service upon the USS Lake Champlain as Quartermaster in water transport, they were involved in the Cuban Blockade, and shortly after, were actively part of Project Gemini; recovering the unmanned Gemini 2 mission along the East coast.
John met Barbara Joan Kasal in Tama/Toledo, Iowa before moving to Kansas City, and after his military duties, brought her to Kansas City to marry and start their life. They married on Saturday, Dec 27th, 1969 at Red Bridge Lutheran Church. Soon after, their children came; Leann Maxine Jurgens(Walker), born January 1972, and Curtis John Jurgens in September 1974.
John gained full time employment at Henry Wurst Incorporated in the early 1970’s, and received his Master Printers of America certification as a “Web Offset Pressman-Multicolor” on November 21, 1975. He continued to work at Henry Wurst Incorporated; many times he was heard saying, “I gave my best for the Wurst”. He left there in the late 1990’s, and settled into retirement. Immediately restless, he followed his love for cooking, and landed several positions at the New Theatre Restaurant, Harrah’s, and finally finding his place at Ameristar casino as a souse chef assistant; prepping and preparing food for each employers’ respected buffets. He rather enjoyed this work, and enthusiastically learned and was so excited to share the things he learned from the chefs he served for.
He and Barbara enjoyed their retirement spending time with their granddaughters, Sloane Alexandria, and Adelaide Elin, taking them to pre-kindergarten every single day, and being with them as much as possible. He and Barbara also loved to travel, and although they didn’t wander as far as they may have liked, they were known to frequent Wallace State Park for quality time together. Eventually, Johns health declined, and he was diagnosed with COPD. He had suffered from asthma much of his life already.
John was a character. He was always jolly; his reliable smile infectious. He knew no stranger; and many, MANY times he would abandon his normal routine to help anyone who needed assistance as best he could. Throughout the years, his family were benefactors of his errand running. If we needed anything, he was your go-to man. His patience was also remarkable, as well as his big heart; giving any help or advice he could. He gave up many sleepless nights and tiresome days making sure his daughter received the necessary surgeries and treatments at the Shriners Hospital in St. Louis, MO. These trips were incredibly frequent during her younger years; rest of family in-tow, but he made sure they happened, no matter what. Every trip, he did his best to make them enjoyable as possible. He always took us to Winchels Donuts, IHOP, Shoney’s, the St. Louis Arch, shopping malls, and time or two, he and Curtis enjoyed The Big Foot monster truck that was on display there.
On the matter of trips and vacations, our yearly summer vacation almost always was to Iowa for family visiting. Dad made sure the van was packed up and that we made it to all of the important stops: mom’s family in Chelsea, Tama/Toledo, and Belle Plaine where his father-in-law George Kasal, and step mother-in-law Myrtle lived. Then later in life, to Vining cemetery where those in-laws were buried. He also took us to LaPorte City to be with his side of the family, Maxine’s brothers and sisters. Once in LaPorte, he loved being able to stay at aunt Mae and uncle Donald Brennan’s home. SO many good memories there with dad and grandma and all! Back home dad made sure we saw a lot of important local attractions here in town as much as we could. He took Curtis to union station to see a big steam engine train, many times he took us to see the Blue Angels, the Kansas City Zoo, and even though not local, he took us to Silver Dollar City. One other long ago memory was a trip to Brainerd, Minnesota where he took pictures of us standing next to the statues of Paul Bunion and his big blue ox, Babe!
When grandma Maxine bought a mobile RV camper, dad took all of us to Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Tetons, Mount Rushmore, and Crazy Horse. The fun on that trip was “helping” dad with the sewage disposal (YUCK!) from the camper, and how well he mastered the hills and the smoking brakes from the winding, hilly roads through the Tetons scenery. He also enjoyed the Flintstones Park, and in Rapid City, SD, he particularly loved the Reptile Gardens.
Dad’s immediate loves were his parents, family, children, his home, his freedom, and so much more. You could find him watching KCPT channel 19 ALL the time, This Old House, all of the cooking shows you can think of. When riding in the car with him, it always seemed we were magically able to capture a story or two from his ALL TIME favorite radio personality... Paul Harvey. We always got to know, “The rest of the story...”.
I’m sure I could go on and on with all the most important memories of dad, but it would take a long, long time to stop writing. There is so much to say, but what’s most important is that he is sorely missed, and he is now at peace, not suffering, and breathing better than ever before.
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18