John L. Jorissen

John L. Jorissen, 86, passed away peacefully in his sleep on September 16, 2025. He is survived by: his children John Jr. (MaryAnn), Julie, Jen, and Jim (Christine); grandchildren Jeremy Damsgard, Anthony, John Paul (Sarah), James (Andrea), Alesandra Seepersaud (Andy), and Stefano (Tessa); 7 great-grandchildren; brother James Jorissen, sister Mary Cavanagh (Pat), brother-in-law Tom Shelton; and a large extended family and many friends and colleagues.

John was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 67 years, Grace (Mattila); mother Josephine Jorissen (Sullivan); father Norbert Jorissen; brother Lawrence and sisters Eileen Nelson and Kathleen Shelton (Tom); mother-in-law Ann C. Mattila (Dalglish) and father-in-law John H. Mattila (June).

A Celebration of Life will be held in John's memory on Saturday, October 4, 2025, at O’Halloran & Murphy in Woodbury, MN. Visitation is from 10:30 to 11:30 am, and a simple service will follow at 11:30.

John was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he attended St Luke's Elementary. He graduated from Cretin High School in St. Paul, with the Class of 1956; John kept in contact with his classmates for the remainder of his life, attending reunions and lunches with his friends until, sadly, health issues prevented him from joining them in anything more than spirit. He valued his friendships with them, and always looked forward to their gatherings.

John and Grace met in High School, were married in 1958, and spent nearly 67 years forging a life together, raising their four children in Roseville, Minnesota. It was a busy, productive life; in addition to working to support his family, he went to school in the evenings to earn his CPA license. He was also a Scout Leader when his sons were in Boy Scouts, and led his troop on annual treks to the Boundary Waters. John was known by friends, family, and his colleagues as someone who knew how to "fix stuff", too. Many of his evenings and weekends were spent repairing cars, roofs, plumbing, doors, or whatever needed to be addressed. He helped his children, extended family, and friends with their own homes, sheds, cabins, and vehicles whenever he could, and had a collection of tools that could outfit a hardware store!

The family enjoyed many outdoor activities together, including swimming, boating, camping, and fishing. Many weekends were spent doing all of that and more at the cabin John helped to build at Big Sandy Lake near McGregor, Minnesota. In 1971 the family took a car trip to Yellowstone; the stories from it are legendary, and much of it is documented in the scrapbook Grace took pains to create. Likewise, a visit to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area a couple of years later has tales of its own, as well as a photo album of memories.

John and Grace loved spending time with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren and took every opportunity to visit with them, to celebrate birthdays, holidays, or just plain ol' ordinary days, have a barbeque dinner, play cards or BINGO!, watch a game on TV, or enjoy one of many other fun activities. John's eyes would light up when the kids came to visit!

John had a varied working career. He spent time at Viking Electric in St. Paul as a bookkeeper. Later, while taking evening classes to earn his CPA license, he served as an accountant with his father-in-law John Mattila's accounting firm. He later left the firm to work as Controller and then Chief Operations Officer for several Thermo King Sales and Service dealerships located in Minnesota, Illinois, and Iowa. John retired in 2005 after more than a quarter of a century of service.

John and Grace enjoyed going to concerts together - they had season tickets for Schubert Club performances, and often attended concerts by the St Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra. With John and Grace's friends and music colleagues, they held recitals, gala holiday parties, and picnics on the back deck that John built.

Travel and The Outdoors were integral parts of John’s life. From weekend family trips to “The Cabin” or “The North Shore”, to travel vacations with Grace in Ireland, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland,Yugoslavia, Australia, and Grand Cayman, he visited locations near and far with family, friends, and colleagues. Many Autumn weekends were spent tracking elusive whitetail deer in Northern Minnesota, or jigging for giant Walleyes in rivers and lakes near Ely, Minnesota. When John and Grace retired in 2005, they purchased a large RV and followed the “snowbird” route to winter in Arizona. When driving the big rig became too much work, they sold their RV and purchased a mobile home in a park in Mesa. There they made friends with other snowbirds, and made daytrips to local areas of interest.

Eventually they sold the mobile home unit and their Minnesota townhome, and moved to an apartment at Lakeview Commons in Maplewood; a few months after Grace’s passing, John moved to Cerenity - Marian, in hospice for the remainder of his days.

The family suggests memorials be made in John’s honor to one of the following, or to the organization of your choosing:

· Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minnesota

· Ecumen - Lakeview Commons in Maplewood, Minnesota

· Wounded Warriors Foundation

· American Kidney Foundation

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