Verona – Robert John Kudrle, age 75, passed away on Friday, January 18th, 2019, at Brookdale Senior Living. Born August 1st, 1943, in Santa Monica, California, the son of Robert Edward Kudrle and Mary Ann Haefner, John was the oldest of nine brothers and sisters. As a youth, John attended Seminary School and then later Syracuse University.
He was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force after serving as a Romanian linguist in Turkey during the Cold War. John married Virginia Chastek in Norwood Young America, MN in 1968 and celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this past year. John and Ginny raised two children, Rob and Paul, in Bloomington, MN with a large back yard that allowed for gardens in the summer and sledding in the winter.
John was a lover of books and was a book buyer for Bookmen, Inc in Minneapolis, MN for nearly 30 years until his retirement. He created long friendships from that business that last until this day. John ate all things spicy, really spicy, especially Mexican food and his favorite restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, Sawatdee.
But he especially yearned for the natural solitude of northern Minnesota. His love for the lakes and woods would inspire John to build three different cabins over the years in which the family would spend their weekends and summer vacations. The first cabin he labored had no running water and an outhouse that doubled as a shed.
The cabin was rustic, but it had character and charm with books arranged in shelves everywhere from floor to ceiling and a ladder that lead from the kitchen to a sleeping loft. The last cabin he renovated on Pelican Lake became the dream retirement home for John and Ginny. He was always building.
This almost always started before daybreak (much to the chagrin of his family) and ended with an eagerness to retire early as to get a jump on the next day. When he ran out of large things to build he spent his time woodworking, creating watercolor paintings and stained glass, with themes of the north woods. He was an artist without ego or pretention.
John also loved dogs; Pepper, Sadie and later a little white shih tzu/bichon mix named Maizy, that he and Ginny rescued. Maizy and John were glued to the hip. The only thing that would pull Ginny and John away to leave northern Minnesota was their love for his two children Rob and Paul Kudrle.
He and Ginny would later move to Madison, Wisconsin to help their two sons raise three beautiful grandchildren. Although John and Ginny gave up the north woods of Minnesota to be close to their children and grandchildren, they came to love Madison for what it had to offer, especially its cycling. When the weather was good you could see John out hitting the bike trails with a smile, a wink, and a little white dog riding along in a basket attached to the back seat.
John was a loving, kind, and compassionate father and husband. We will miss him greatly. John is survived by his beautiful wife Ginny Kudrle, Robert Kudrle and Kathryn Janz, Paul Kudrle and Bridget Kudrle, and three grandchildren, John Kudrle, Colin Kudrle and Carly Kudrle.
Future funeral services will be held at Ascension Parish, 323 Reform St. N. Norwood Young America, MN. Date and time of service will be forthcoming. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial donations be made to: Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, www.
alzinfo.org/ We would like to thank John’s doctors, the professionals at Brookdale Senior Living and Agrace Hospice for the care and love they have given John. We would also like to thank the Verona Senior Center for their loving community support along with friends and extended family.
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