Jon Gander

Jon Louis Gander (age 77) passed away peacefully and surrounded by loved ones in his home on May 11th, 2020.

Jon was born in 1942 to Beverly Bowden and Oscar Spurlong. At the age of 11, he was institutionalized for the next several decades of his life until relocating back to Dane County in the late 1990’s. Jon resided in Stoughton for the last large portion of his life where he was an avid community member. He was well known by many local restaurant staff, store clerks, countless first responders and many others in the community. Jon had a way of making his presence known. His laugh was infectious and his love for life was unmatched by anyone in the world.

Jon had a skill of making everyone his friend and creating family members out of those around him. He was fantastic to be around and loved the people who were in his life and the love often extended into the lives of those connected to people near him. He had a wonderful way of collecting relationships.

Jon enjoyed holidays of all kinds. Amongst his favorites were Christmas and Syttende Mai. He would count down the months, weeks and days until it would be back again the second it would end each year. He loved living in the Stoughton community and going out to see the local fire trucks, ambulances and cop cars as well as construction sites. He would sit for hours and learn all the ins and outs of how things work and connecting with anyone he could who had knowledge to share, while he waited to see them all again in the next Syttende Mai or Christmas Themed Fire truck parade.

Jon was a music lover and he collected any and all music from many genres both in record and cd form and would spend hours listening to his collection. Amongst his favorites was classic country and specifically Johnny Cash.

Life was not something that Jon let pass by even for a second. He enjoyed each and every moment and couldn’t get enough fun out of life around him. He loved being on the go and spending time with people he loved. He loved learning and exploring and making people laugh and smile. He was fantastic at telling jokes. He was very spunky and colorful in his interactions in a way that made people want to be near him more.

Jon was supported by Community Living Connections for the last several decades of his life where he made countless connections over the years that quickly became his family. He also worked for the Madison Area Rehabilitation Center in both Madison East and Stoughton for 23 years, where he established long standing relationships as well.

Those who knew Jon loved him immensely and miss him deeply. Life certainly is a lot less vibrant without him.

Jon is survived by siblings, many nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews in Stoughton as well as many people he personally adopted into his family over the years.

Those closest to Jon would like to thank the wonderful staff at Community Living Connections for all of the dedicated care, love, support and genuine fun over the years. The dedicated staff at MARC Stoughton who worked hard to make work eventful and fun for Jon. Amanda Pajerski and the dedicated staff at Continuum Therapy Inc. for all of the years of creative new ideas and never giving up when new challenges were thrown in the mix. As well as many others who know who they are who spent hours fighting on Jon’s behalf when the going would get tough. Thank you to everyone who loved him and shared their lives with him.

Due to the times and restrictions on gatherings at the time of Jon’s passing, a small burial service with those closest to him will be held on May 1, 2021 at Lutheran Cemetery South. As Jon would request, the hope is to also host a picnic later this fall in his honor to celebrate his life as he deserved.