John Petsche

JOHN PETSCHE

Iowa City

John Petsche, 60, of Iowa City, died Sunday, Aug. 30, 2015. A celebration of his life will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 5, at the Iowa City American Legion Post 17.

Memories and condolences can be left at www.gayandciha.com.

John was born March 7, 1955, in Guttenberg, Iowa, the seventh son of Arthur and Charmion (Kellogg) Petsche. He graduated from Fayette High School in 1973, Upper Iowa University (bachelor's degree in history and political science) and Creighton Law School.

Those left to cherish his memory include his son, Jeremiah of Iowa City; 12 siblings, Art (Wila) Petsche of Sand Springs, Okla., Jerry Petsche of Hawkeye, Gary (Joyce) Petsche of Hawkeye, Dan Petsche of Haslet, Texas, Tom (Kathy) Petsche of Solon, Rick (Teresa) Petsche of Wadena, Trish Peebles of Urbana, Judy Petsche of Shellsburg, Randy Petsche of Iowa City, Bill Petsche of Des Moines, Cindy Petsche of Carmel, Calif., and Jim Petsche of Iowa City. His extended family includes many nieces, nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

John was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Mary Ann; and son, Joey Ralph McMullen.

John served in the U.S. Army from 1973 to 1976 as a finance specialist. He completed basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., AIT at Fort Jackson, S.C., and Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana. He was stationed in Germany for 28 months with the VII Corps Headquarters in Nellingen (near Munich). He also traveled to Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Austria and Switzerland.

John was a big-hearted, gentle soul who modeled his mother's teachings of "treat others as you would like to be treated," and "help others who are less fortunate." He was an eternal optimist who always believed the glass was half full and will be missed by all who knew him.