John A. Borntrager

DATE CHANGE DUE TO POTENTIAL WINTER STORMS: 

Visitation: Sunday, January 14, 2024 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Service: Monday, January 15, 2024 11:00 AM (Visitation one hour prior to the service as well.)

Location: (Same) Sinn Family Celebration of Life Center (111 Apple Street East, Trimont, MN 56176)

TRIMONT - John A. Borntrager, age 91, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on January 7, 2024, at Temperance Lake Ridge in Sherburn, MN.

A Celebration of Life service will be held for John at 11:00 AM on Monday, January 15, 2024, at the Sinn Family Celebration of Life Center in Trimont, (Trimont United Methodist Church, 111 Apple Street East, Trimont, MN)  and will be officiated by Chuck Rudolph. The service will be recorded, and available live as well as after the service at the bottom of this page.

Visitation will be held from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM on Sunday, January 14, 2024, at the Sinn Family Celebration of Life Center, as well as one hour prior to John's Celebration of Life on Monday.

Burial will take place at a later date at Fairview Memorial Park Cemetery in rural Fairmont, MN.

John was born on October 11, 1932, in a boxcar during the Great Depression to Andrew and Barbara (Plank) Borntrager, in Anderson County, Kansas. John’s family was Amish for the first three years of his life, and then Mennonite for several years following that. He attended various country schools as his family moved around different parts of Kansas following his father’s jobs.

John proudly served his country in the Air Force from 1952 until his honorable discharge in 1956. Following his time in the service, John went to a semester of college in Pratt, Kansas on the GI bill, and later worked in the area for a local farmer and at Boeing Aircraft. After he and 12,000 others were laid off by Boeing, John decided to move away from Kansas and to Minnesota, where he worked at Abbott Hospital for two years while attending Dunwoody College where he learned to weld.

While he was still working and attending school in Minneapolis, John met the love of his life, Beverly Suter. John and Bev were united in marriage on March 28, 1959, and were blessed with three children, Scott, Steven, and Bruce.

John and Bev relocated their family to Trimont in 1964 when they had the opportunity to purchase the Kramer Welding and Blacksmith Shop.They renamed the shop, ”Trimont Welding and Blacksmith” and owned and operated the business for 33 years until December 31, 1997. John was a very skilled welder, and could always be found tinkering with something in the shop.

John was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, and friend. He enjoyed fishing, deer hunting, and playing fast pitch softball in his younger days. John and Bev enjoyed traveling together, and went to Europe three times, Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, East Coast, West Coast, and they would winter in Arizona. Some of John’s favorite memories were of his family camping trips and cooking over the fire.

John is survived by his loving wife, Beverly Borntrager; children, Scott (Tammy), Steven, and Bruce (Heather); grandchildren, Shane (Karen), Kelsey (Tyler), Tiffany (Kenneth), Sarah, Hannah (Christen), Rachel, Adam, Sydney, and Sam; ten great grandchildren; four step-grandchildren; brothers, Dan (Donna), Charles (Dee); sister, Betty Eash; brothers-in-law, Roger Suter and Robert (Linda) Suter; sisters-in-law, Carol Suter, Maralyn (Gary) Krumwiede, Karalyn (Darnell) Furland, Joyce (Jerry) Simon, Evelyn (Chuck) Rudolph, Sylvia (Jim) Pytleski, and Peggy (Chuck) Haugen; and many other relatives and friends.

John is preceded in death by his parents, Andrew and Barbara Borntrager; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Herbert and Elsa (Mathiason) Suter; brothers, Andrew (Shirley) Borntrager and David (Nora) Borntrager; brother-in-law, Gail Suter; and other relatives and friends.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to all of the wonderful healthcare staff, family, and friends who have cared for and supported John over the last several years.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in John's name.