John Patrick Gronniger. April 22, 1953 — July 16, 2025.

We knew him best in childhood. We fished, caught frogs and turtles and snakes and jars of lightning bugs. We picked strawberries in our grandfather’s fields, built a raft to float in one of the ponds on that farm in Linwood and climbed a lot of trees. He was happy then and free. As free as kids get to be.

He loved watermelon, his dog, Prince, and shooting his BB gun. Later on he loved the Ford Mustang he and Dad rebuilt from a wreck.

He learned to fly. He went to Emporia State, majored in business, and learned to cook. He worked construction, built a business, got married, got divorced. He had 3 German Shepherds over his lifetime but ended up with a tiny gray cat named Thunder.

He’d text us to tell us to go watch a sunset. He checked in with us every week by phone. He bought a house and was fixing it up. He was looking forward to doing the landscaping. The Universe, however, had other plans. He died at KU Medical Center on July 16. He was our brother and we loved him.

He was predeceased by his parents JL and Marjorie Gronniger. He leaves behind his 3 sisters: Kay Madden (partner Marcia Motsinger), Martha Gronniger and Maureen Gronniger; one maternal aunt, Judy Goetting, and numerous cousins and their progeny.

A memorial will be held Saturday, September 27, from 2-4 pm at The Lodge, 726 Main St, Eudora, KS.