John Prehn died of a heart attack on July 14, 2001 at his home in St. Peter, Minnesota. At the time he was a professor of sociology at Gustavus Adolphus College. He is survived by his wife Janet. Her address is
Janet Prehn
6309 Killarney Ct.
Madison Lake, MN 56063-9518
We repeat what John wrote for this webpage before his death.
After I graduated from college, Jerry Farlow and I ran into each other in Iowa City where we were each starting grad school at the University of Iowa. He had just graduated from Iowa State and I (just in case Miss Marcum is reading over my shoulder) from Macalester College in St. Paul. For the next
three years I did my graduate work, where I received my Ph.D. in
sociology in 1964. In 1960 I married Janet Nelson, a nursing student at
the University of Iowa, whom I had met in Manchester after my folks moved there in 1957. We
left Iowa City for Tacoma, WA, in 1962, so I could take a teaching job at the
University of Puget Sound. While we were in Tacoma, the twins, Jay and Bruce, were born.
In 1962 we returned to the midwest to Minnesota where we have been ever since. Tim was born after we arrived in Minnesota.
I've been a practicing sociologist all my working life. I have taught at Gustavus Adolphus College since 1964. I expect to
retire with the graduating class of 2002. Janet, along with sharing the sometimes
trying task of raising our brood to adulthood, has been employed as a
psychiatric nurse at the St. Peter Regional Treatment Center since the late 1960s. Our kids grew and finally prospered.
Jay, the eldest (by four minutes), lives in London with his lovely
English wife, Nikki. Jay is the father of Julia, who lives with her
mother Angi in Idstein, Germany. Jay is network administrator for the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, in London. Nikki services the accounts of charitable
organizations in the U.K. She works at other*, a London advertising agency.
Bruce is the one kid who is currently local. He and Kerri just presented
us with grandchild number three, Karter Jon. They live in Waseca, MN, just
32 mi. from us. Bruce is director of digital technology at The Arabian
Horse Times, a fascinatingly monstrous monthly magazine published in
Waseca. Kerri is at home, devoting her time to the
raising of Karter.
Tim, child number three, is married to Angie. They live in Dublin, CA,
where they are wrapped up in the northern California rush. They are
parents of Linnea, born in March, 1999. Tim just switched jobs. He is now
a senior administrator at WarpSpeed Communications
. Angie is an epidemiologist at the Northern
California Cancer Center.
For other fascinating facts and matters of trivia, with links to the rest
of the world, visit us at our NEW HOMESTEAD webpage. That's where I've begun to insert a more or less current account of various events and developments in our lives.
I'd like to hear from you all. Be sure to encourage any of the rest of us
who are wired to the world to keep the R.H.S. website info current.
Jerry's been doing a great job building the site and tracking us all down.
Let's keep him smiling and happy. Maybe, someday, he'll invite us all to
take a globetrotting trip with him and Susan.
Is that really the Rolfe Fight Song?
Keep in touch,
John
We all miss John.
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