DELAVAN - John Charles Gjerde was born February 8, 1949 in Lake City, Minnesota to William (Bill) and Elizabeth Gjerde and was the younger brother of William (Bill) Jr. and Robert (Bob) Gjerde. John grew up in Lake City along the shores of Lake Peppin and summered at his family cottage on Cotton Lake. He attended Lake City High School before transferring to Shattuck preparatory school in Faribault, Minnesota where he played soccer and ran track, including in a Minnesota State Championship.
Inherently inquisitive and intellectually driven, John was passionate about history, geography, art, architecture, and the natural world. He received a bachelor's degree from St. Cloud State University and later completed a master's degree in the Department of Geography and Geology at Indiana State University where he also served in the US National Guard. John’s graduate research explored land use and valuation in Alaska’s Matanuska Valley and involved various trips to Alaska in the late 1970s. John cherished his Alaskan adventures and the characters he encountered in the state and throughout his subsequent travels.
He went onto work in real estate in the Minneapolis area until his early retirement. Having initially met in 1974, John reconnected with Mary Lorentz in 1998. They married in April 2000 and John relocated to southeastern Wisconsin to live with his wife and daughter Kimberly Ovitz.
Throughout his life, John was a highly skilled athlete and avid adventurer. He was particularly passionate about downhill skiing, cycling, and sailing. As a teenager, John and his brother Bill learned to sail aboard an aluminum sailing canoe igniting what would become a lifelong passion for competitive sailboat racing. John honed his sailing abilities racing aboard Finns, JY15s, and J24s among many other boat designs. A particularly adept helmsman, John possessed an extraordinary ability to read the wind and make advantageous decisions on the race course.
In 1977, John and his close friend Rolf Turnquist ordered the first J24 (Oz, hull 007) off the Tillotson-Pearson production line and founded the first J24 fleet (Fleet 1) on Lake Minnetonka. John, Rolf, and their fellow Fleet 1 members popularized One-Design keelboat racing and helped make the J24 the most popular keelboat class in the world with over 50,000 participants across more than 40 countries.
John was a member of the Wayzata and Delavan Lake Yacht Clubs and routinely sailed on Lake Minnetonka, Lake of the Woods, Lake Michigan, Lake Geneva, and Lake Delavan. He participated in countless sailing competitions including in the Finn World Championships (Bermuda, 1969), J24 Regionals and World Championships, Ugotta Regatta, the Lake of the Woods International Sailing Association (LOWISA) Regatta, and the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac (Chicago-Mackinac).
One of John’s favorite places to sail was on Lake of the Woods. A life-long LOWISA regatta participant, John raced aboard an O’Day Day Sailer in LOWISA 1 in 1966. He went on to compete in over 40 LOWISAs between 1966-2017 and served as commodore of LOWISA 19 in 1984. In addition to his sailing achievements, John was the founder of and an avid participant in the LOWISA Betty Crocker Golden Galley Cooking Competition and enjoyed organizing youth activities during the regatta including treasure hunts and face painting.
John was a beloved friend, son, brother, husband, and father and found fulfillment as a parent and coach of youth sports including soccer, sailing, and skiing. He will be remembered by many for his unmatched kindness, friendship, gentle nature, keen sense of humor, boyish mischievousness, twinkling eyes, excellent recall, adept storytelling and of course, his blue-ribbon brownies.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to one of the following non-profit organizations:
Lake of the Woods International Sailing Association (LOWISA)
Alaska Conservation Foundation Internship Program
A celebration of life for John will be held Sunday August 18, 2024 from 4:00 - 6:00 PM at the Delavan Lake Yacht Club (DLYC) in Delavan, Wisconsin. All of John’s friends, family, and acquaintances are warmly invited to attend; please RSVP here.
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