Funeral services for John Geido Vernon Thorson, 89, of Albert Lea will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home. The Rev. Todd Walsh of Grace Lutheran Church will officiate. Interment will be at Thorson Family Cemetery in rural Lake Mills, Iowa. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service. To sign the guest book, goto www.bayviewfuneral.com
John died Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008, at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.
John Geido Vernon Thorson was born on April 30, 1919, to Alf (Gautefold) and Ingre Marie (Volstad) Thorson in Mount Valley Township in Winnebago County, Iowa. He grew up in Iowa. After graduating from high school, John attended the Iowa State Teachers College for three months and worked for various farmers. John served in the United States Army from 1941-1945. During this time he was at Omaha Beach on D-Day and he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. John was in the archival footage from World War II that was in the movie “Band of Brothers.” John married Moya Rose Chalmers in July of 1945 in England, they were married for 32 years. John worked in sales for a seed corn dealership, owned a sporting goods store and was a greeter at Walmart. He represented Wal-Mart at the dedication of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. John loved athletics and pitched on a softball team and is in the Minnesota Fastpitch Softball Hall of Fame. John was an avid Viking and Iowa Hawkeyes fan.
Survivors include his children, Karen (Robert) Reed of Woodside, Calif., LaVonne (Bruce) Bushkofsky of St. Cloud, Lee Thorson of Forest City, Iowa, Shelley (Howard) Singer of Scottsdale, Ariz.; grandchildren Ryan Reed, Kimberly Gerdes, Heather Zabel, Jason Reed, Cory Thorson, Justin Bushkofsky, Tara Bushkofsky, Ashley Singer, Austin Singer, and Madison Singer; great-grandchildren, Karissa Gerdes, Skylar Martin, Cade Gerdes, Hudson Zabel, Brinkley Zabel, and Preston Maile; and many nieces and nephews.
John was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Mabel Theodora and Alpha; brothers, Herman, twins, Marvin and Marvel, Harold and another brother, Herman in infancy.