John J. Sturm III was born March 17, 1941, in Armstrong, Iowa, the son of John J. II and Catherine (Grabianowski) Sturm. He attended school in Armstrong, where he was active and excelled in basketball and football as a freshman through his junior year. During his senior year, John stepped away from organized sports to focus on lifting weights and bodybuilding. John was also known as a “ladies’ man” and really knew how to cut a rug.

Following his graduation, John attended Estherville Junior College. While working towards his AA degree in business, John also helped his father on the family farm. He also worked at Arts Way in Armstrong as a welder.

John enjoyed attending dances at the Interlaken Ballroom in Fairmont, where he met Marlene Ferguson. The couple hit it off and were later married on Sept. 2, 1967, at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Bancroft, Iowa. Following their marriage, Marlene encouraged John to go back to school, and the couple enrolled at Mankato State College in Mankato, Minn., where they both lived in the dorm and served as resident advisors. John obtained his Bachelor of Science Degree in 1968 and received his master’s degree in business and accounting in 1969.

The couple later moved to Albert Lea, Minn., where John taught Business, Economics, and Accounting at Lea College in Albert Lea. On May 16, 1976, John and Marlene welcomed home a daughter, M. Nicole “Nikki” Sturm. The family then moved to Fairmont, Minn., where John worked as the AAA insurance agent and was known as the “AAA guy” around Fairmont and the surrounding area. Family was extremely important to John, and with his office being next to the 1876 Restaurant in the mall, the family enjoyed many meals there and looked forward to their famous malts as a treat. John’s love for family extended beyond his own and in his later years, was instrumental in helping his daughter Nikki get her dance studio off the ground, in Dickinson, N.D. in 2006. Her students and their families to this day affectionately call him “Papa John”.

John will be remembered for his zest for life and his greeting and salutation of, “Wishing you a good day!”

Left to cherish his memory is his daughter, M. Nicole “Nikki” Sturm; brother, Joseph “Joe’ Sturm; sister, Judith Krueger; as well as many nieces, nephews, extended family and friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents, John J. II and Catherine Sturm; and wife, Marlene Sturm; as well as other family.

www.lakeviewfuneralhome.net

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