John Albert Puschell

John Albert Puschell, 91, of La Crosse, died on Tuesday, February 11 ^th , 2019 from complications of a stroke. He was born on Thursday, August 18 ^th , 1927. John was raised near the town of North East, Maryland. He was the 10 ^th of 11 children. The family lived in the country and attended a small Methodist church. John went to grade school and part of high school in North East. When his father passed away, his sister, Rose invited him to live with her family in Wilmington, Delaware. John graduated from a technical high school in Wilmington. He turned 18 years old in 1945 as World War II was ending. He was drafted into the Army in October of that year. He served 15 months in the army helping soldiers coming home from overseas to prepare and arrange for returning home. After his tour of duty, John returned home to Maryland. He got a job working for an air conditioning company. After a year of work, he decided to enroll in the Milwaukee School of Engineering and successfully graduated from a Refrigeration, Heating and Air Conditioning course.

John was hired by Trane Company in La Crosse, so he packed up and moved to La Crosse. Six months after starting at Trane Company, he met and fell in love with a girl that worked in the adjacent department named Lucille Stephan. Less than a year later, they were married at Temple Baptist Church on June 29 ^th , 1951. In the spring of 1954, John re-dedicated his life to the Lord and accepted Him into his heart and was baptized. John used Matthew 10:32 as a verse of testimony. As a part of his journey as a new church member at the Baptist church, he realized that his habit of smoking cigarettes was not good for his two boys that were both under four years of age as well as not a good example for the youth of the church. Lucille had recently become the youth director so he and Lucille spent significant time with them. He turned it over to the Lord to help him with this habit and found greater faith in the Lord after overcoming it. He continued to be a faithful member of the Baptist church until his death. He served as a deacon, treasurer and financial secretary for many years under various Pastors.

He was so grateful for the almost 48 years of marriage with his wife, Lucille who passed away on February 11th of 1999. He was very proud of his three children, Jeff, Dan and Linda as well as his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He is happy that for the latter years he had a wonderful friend and fellow Christian, Gaylynne Moore of La Crosse as a companion. He had many fond memories of his Maryland family as well as his La Crosse family and friends. He was blessed and truly appreciative for the full life that the Lord gave him.

He is survived by his three children, Jeffery J. (Dana) Puschell of Solvang and Hermosa Beach, California and their children, Ann (Philipp) of Buchloe, Germany, Brian and Crystal of Solvang and grandchildren Henry, Miranda and Jessica of Buchloe, Germany; Daniel L. Puschell of Canton, Michigan and his children Aaron, Andrew, Ethan (Noelle), Christian, Faith and Hope of Canton, Michigan; Linda K. (Craig) Griebenow and their children, Craig Jr. (C.J) and Sara of Rochester, Minnesota.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 A.M. Saturday, February 16 ^th at Faith Baptist Church, 3615 S. 28 ^th Street, La Crosse with Pastor Stephen Terpstra officiating. Entombment with military honors will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Friday from 5-7 P.M. at the Schumacher-Kish Funeral and Cremation Services, 200 West Avenue South, La Crosse and again on Saturday at the church from 9:30 A.M. until the time of services. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Faith Baptist Church or the American Cancer Society.