John Muldowney

John Muldowney, age 75, of Brainerd passed away Monday, February 18, 2019 at St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd.  A gathering of family and friends to celebrate the life of John will be held from 1-3 PM on Saturday, February 23, 2019 at St. John’s Episcopal Church (1111 Cooper Ave S, St Cloud, MN).  Burial will be in Lone Pine Cemetery, Morrill, Minnesota.  

John Joseph Muldowney was born April 21, 1943 in Buffalo, New York, the son of John and Marie (Lehner) Muldowney.  He moved to Minnesota in the early 1970’s. 

John was a handyman, craftsman, and a very artistic person.  He was a self-taught artist and often painted scenes of farms, landscapes, and gardens.  He built a house and several outbuildings from logs removed from an old barn and harvested from the nearby woods.  He surrounded this work with landscaping of his design, grand gardens, and enough trees to build a small colony of homes.  He appreciated the arts and crafts of others.  John was a compassionate, good natured person with a good sense of humor and was always willing to help a person or animal in need.  He was a teacher of his crafts and loved to teach others how to draw, garden or build.  Although he wouldn’t always admit it, he loved animals and he especially liked raising poultry and browsing through the breed catalogs.  John’s career spanned many jobs including four years of service in the United States Air Force, working with tropical fish, carpentry, landscaping, and was a labeled the “Tree Doctor” working for the city of Milaca during the height of the Dutch Elm disease outbreak. He retired after working for several years in facility maintenance at Gorecki Manufacturing in Milaca.  John touched many lives and he will be missed.

John is survived by his wife, Rosie, formerly from Foley, MN area; sons: John (Susanne Chesin) of Robbinsdale MN, and Cassidy of Foley, MN; daughter, Colleen Rae of Tigerton, WI; granddaughter, Alex Rae of Tigerton,WI; step-daughter, Bobbie Stay (Brian) and her family Brenden, Samantha, Ethan; sister, Peggy Muldowney of Amherst, NY; as well as other relatives and friends.  He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Diane Fernandez; and step-daughter, Jennifer Pekarek.

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