John Victor Woolley

John Victor Woolley passed away on October 10, 2026, at age 96, after a wonderful life full of family, friends, work and travel.

Born the day after Christmas to Victor C. and Frieda Luethje Woolley in Seward, Nebraska, John was joined by a younger sister Mary. "Johnny Vic" spent his childhood playing in the fields and creeks of Seward, swimming in the local pool, and even managed to break the same arm twice in one summer. The family moved to Omaha, where John graduated from Benson High School.

He enrolled and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he belonged to ROTC and Theta Xi Fraternity. He met and married his wife, Kathrene Lael Mentzer Woolley, during his time at university. Together they became a military family while John was in the Army Air Corps, in the early 1950s, and had daughter, Linda, and son, Steven.

After his honorable discharge, where he attained the rank of captain, John received training as a systems analyst, had son John Michael, and began his work for IBM, mainly in the Sheboygan, Wisconsin area. John was also active in the Wisconsin Air National Guard. A similar computer job with Honeywell caused the family to move to Minneapolis. John later resided in the Stillwater area, and most recently lived at Croixdale in Bayport, Minnesota. We, his family, would like to thank Croixdale for the excellent safekeeping and companionship that John received while in their care.

John enjoyed his family, friends, hiking, traveling and collecting antiques, paintings, glassware, woodworking, and rugs. He was a much-loved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, son, son-in-law, and uncle. Many summers were spent visiting friends and family in Nebraska and traveling the United States.

His favorite places to hike were the Sangro de Cristos in Colorado, and the Cotswolds in England. The thrill of building his collections came from his travels throughout the US, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Morocco, Isreal, Russia, Amsterdam, and England.

John is survived by his children, Linda (Terry) Ward, Steven (Cassie) Woolley and Mike (Jeanne) Woolley; his grandchildren Jonathan (Courtney) Ward, Amy (Spencer) Chew, Allison Ward, Joshua (Val) Schave, Jonathan Schave, Stephanie (Bryan) Connelly, Brea Lael, and Derek (Madison) Woolley; his great-grandchildren Abigail, Helen, Abby, Jack, Sage, Eli, Carter and Brody; many nieces, nephews, and his former wife June. He was preceded in death by his parents, sister Mary, and his wife Kathy.

John's visitation and funeral service will be held at Bradshaw Funeral Home, 2800 Curve Crest Blvd., Stillwater, MN 55082, from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm, on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026.