WALWORTH – Jan J. Van Dreser, age 81, of Walworth passed away on Sunday, May 12, 2019, at his home in Walworth, with his wife Grace of 61 years and family present.
Jan was born on June 7, 1937, in Berlin, WI, the second child of Esther and Leon Van Dreser. He enlisted in the US Army where he was trained as an electrician, and then worked on Nike missiles, in Lannon, WI. He was united in marriage to Grace Ann Waege on October 5, 1957. After being honorably discharged from the Army, he worked at Sta-Rite Industries, in Delavan. And then he worked for many years at Walworth County Sheriff’s Department, first as a patrolman in 1965, and then made Sergeant, and following that he took the job of Emergency Government Coordinator of Walworth County, until his retirement in 1991.
In post-retirement he took the job of Walworth County SARA Coordinator, and continued his part-time work as Security Director for Sta-Rite Industries, in Delavan. During this time he was also working on his hobbies of buying and restoring military Jeeps, working on his clock collection, and buying and trading guns and attending many gun shows. Most of all he enjoyed fishing on the Mississippi, either with family or friends. Just as enjoyable he had his many friends and acquaintances come to his place where they had work parties and fun with fishing, shooting at targets, and having huge steak meals and pig roasts.
Jan is survived by his wife, Grace; two children, David (Robert) Van Dreser, of Los Angeles, and Kathy (Ron) Snopek, of Milwaukee; two grandchildren, Egan and Landon; a brother, James (Carol) Van Dreser, of Delavan.
Jan is preceded in death by his parents.
Memorial Services will be held at 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, June 1, 2019, at Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, 420 Read Street in Walworth. A special thanks to Kathy (daughter) and Jim Jr (nephew) Van Dreser and Uwe Niemachecke, for all the love, visits, support and sacrifices they made in taking care of Jan these final months. The family would also like to thank Aurora Hospice for their care.
