John Perry Quillen, age 92, died on St Patrick’s Day, Friday, March 17, 2023, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. He was born on July 20, 1930, in Kingsport, Tennessee, to Robert Floyd and Lula Alice Quillen. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in August 1947 and retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1968 as a Senior Master Sergeant with over 20 years of honorable service at 11 different Air Bases around the world.

John met the love of his life, Elizabeth Louise Stangler, while stationed at the Duluth, MN, Air Force Base and they were married on September 3, 1955. Together they raised their 6 children. After his retirement from the USAF, he worked for two years as a clerk with the US Postal Service in Oscoda, Michigan, until transferring to Federal Civil Service in Duluth where he served as the Equipment Control and Supply Systems Officer in the Air Base Supply organization and as a Supply Specialist with the PME Laboratory with the 148th Air National Guard following the closure of the Duluth Air Force Base. He retired from Federal Civil Service in 1990 with 20 years of service.

“Jack” had a passion for golf which he passed on to the next generations and he enjoyed keeping the “grounds” at his home in Ball Club where he and his wife, Betty, spent their final years together until her death in 2013. The last several years of his life he traveled and enjoyed many adventures with his good friend, Father Steven Daigle.

John is preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Betty, his sister, Reba Lane and half-sister, Lorene Gibbs.

He is survived by his children: Steven (Anna), Tucson, AZ, Robert (Patti), Hermantown, MN, John, Hermantown, MN, Joan (Bill) Quillen-Bruce, Grand Rapids, MN, Donald, Cloquet, MN, and Debra Cormier (Roger Burma), Jacobson, MN; nine grandchildren (Steven, Travis, Ashley, Megan, Brittany, Nicole, Felecia, Patrick and Kevin) and eight great-grandchildren.

Funeral Mass: Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at St Mary’s Catholic Church, Deer River, MN, with a visitation one hour prior to the service. A lunch will be served following. Interment will be at St Joseph’s Cemetery in Ball Club, MN.

Arrangements by Carroll Funeral Home, Deer River, MN