John Shearer

John Edwin Shearer, 86, a resident of Fergus Falls, died Friday, August 9, 2013, at Woodland Lodge in Fergus Falls, Minnesota.

He was born on September 25, 1926, in rural Maine Township, in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, the son of James B. and Lucille (Tenney) Shearer. He grew up on a farm and attended country school. In 1945 he joined the U.S. Army, and served overseas in the Asiatic Theatre, and with the Occupation Forces in Korea, where he drove an ambulance and worked with the medics, until his discharge in 1947.

On May 1, 1950, he married the love of his life, June Moen at the Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. He drove truck for Dan Dugan in Moorhead, MN and the newlyweds made their home in Fargo, ND. After moving to Fergus Falls the couple had five children. In 1972 East Lost Lake, rural Underwood, became home. They built their lake home themselves with the help from family and friends and thoroughly enjoyed their time at the lake until moving to The Village Co-Op in Fergus Falls in 2004.

John supported his family as a long haul trucker before finding local employment in Fergus Falls with International Harvester as a diesel mechanic. Later he bought a Mobil gas station on Cascade Street and named it John’s 7-0 Service. Needing more room he expanded by moving to a new location on West Lincoln Avenue and built a Champlin service station with a larger garage. He became a line foreman at the Sheltered Workshop in Fergus Falls, designing and building some of the equipment used in furniture production. He continued driving truck hauling gas and fuel oil for Mark Ryan, hauling bulk milk to Fargo and hauling jet fuel to the Fargo Airport. He sold Natures Fertilizer for a number of years and enjoyed seeing his many rural customers each season and he hauled sugar beets to the Minn-Dak plant in Wahpeton, ND.

He loved fishing, hunting, water skiing, playing cards, enjoyed traveling, Ole and Lena jokes, and loved his family and grandchildren.

Preceding him in death were his parents, James, 1968 and Lucille, 1997; his wife, June, 2009; a son-in-law, Jerry Knutson of Fergus Falls; three sisters, Patricia Gullickson, Minneapolis MN, Karen Lee of Granite Falls WA, and Evie Jean Shearer, Fergus Falls; two brothers, Gerald Shearer, Fergus Falls and Gordon Shearer, Fayetteville NC; and one granddaughter, Angela Steen, Morris MN.

Survivors include his children: Janice (Kevin) Leonard of Dewey AZ, James Shearer of Cheyenne, WY, (Mary) Shearer of Grand Forks ND, JoAnn (Mike) Steen of Evansville, MN, Jeffrey (Sue) Shearer of Fargo ND, and Jodi Knutson of Fergus Falls; two sisters, Valerie (Deloyd) Johnson, Ashby, MN, and Ruby Gilbertson, Sun City West, AZ; 12 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Visitation: 5-7 p.m. Thursday with a prayer service at 6:30 p.m. at the funeral home, and resumes one hour prior to the service at the church.
Service: 10:30 a.m. Friday, August 16, 2013 at Hope Lutheran Church in Fergus Falls
Clergy: Reverend Jon Olson
Interment: Silent Vale Cemetery, in Maine, Minnesota
Military Participation by the Fergus Falls VFW and American Legion
Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls is in charge of the arrangements

Condolences may be sent to Olson Funeral Home, 711 Pebble Lake Road, Fergus Falls MN 56537 or online at www.olsonfuneralhome.com