Obituary of John Burger

John A. Burger, 71, of New Vienna died Sun. Sept. 28, 2014, at his home after a long battle with cancer. Friends may call from 2:00 - 8:00 p.m. Wed. Oct. 1, 2014, at Kramer Funeral Home, 750 12th Ave SW, Dyersville where a parish vigil service will be held at 2:00 p.m. and an American Legion Service will be held at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thurs. Oct. 2, at St. Francis Xavier Basilica in Dyersville with burial in the church cemetery. Rev. Dennis Quint will officiate. John was born August 3, 1943, in Dubuque, Iowa, the son of Raymond and Marcella (Drees) Burger. He joined the Army National Guard where he served nearly six years. He married Marian Goedken on January 22, 1966, in Petersburg, Iowa. He worked at the Ertl Toy Company for 29 years, obtaining the position of Die Cast Operations Manager. After the Ertl Company, he worked at Spec Cast and then became the plant manager at Lund Manufacturing until his retirement in 2009. John had a larger than life personality with the ability to make people laugh. When asked how he was he would reply, "Not too bad for a fat, ugly, old man," or "I'm fine, it's the rest of the world that's screwed up!" Surviving are his wife, Marian, 3 sons: Doug (Shiree) Burger of Strawberry Point, Steve (Monica) Burger of Earlville, and Brian (Nancy) Burger of Petersburg; 5 grandchildren: Autumn Burger, Cody (friend Olivia Connolly) Burger, Nick (friend Leah Osterhaus) Burger, Cole and Ben Burger; siblings: Darlene (Merrill) Smock, Carl "Cub" Burger, Kaye (Eldon) Trumm, Dave "Crockett" (Linda) Burger, and Wilma Wolfe, all of Worthington, IA; many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, his step-father, William Wolfe, his parents-in-law, Emil and Cyrilla Goedken, in-laws: Dale C. Goedken a.k.a Goedken Dale, and Robert (Joan) Goedken, and a nephew, Richard Smock. Due to John's lengthy battle with cancer, we would like to thank all of the doctors, nurses and other health care professionals who have tended to our needs these last 10 years.