Obituary of John Joseph Bussmann

Life story for John Joseph Bussmann – Died on 3 September 2021:

John Joseph Bussmann was born on March 10, 1954, in St Louis Park, Mn. He was the second living child of George Amos Bussmann and Dolores Marian Bussmann (Nee Wolf). John’s older brother James was born in 1951 and younger siblings followed – Paul (1955), Cecelia (1957), Anthony (1958), and George (1962).

In 1958, the family moved to a larger home in South Minneapolis in the Kingfield Neighborhood. John attended Agassiz Kindergarten and proceeded to Incarnation Grade School and graduated in 1968 as a proud Incarnation Inca. John’s growth was stunted by a slow thyroid gland that wasn’t discovered until he was in 7^th grade. John overcame this obstacle and sprouted up to his predicted height.

In high school John attended Nazareth Hall Catholic school until it’s closure in the spring of 1970. Shortly after that high school closure the Bussmann family lost their beautiful mother Dolores to cancer in August 1970. This death stunned the family and was a Seminole moment of sadness and despair for all family members and affected the formative years for the Bussmann kids and left John’s father to carry on all child rearing activities without his beautiful and loving wife. In this sad time, John completed his junior year at nearby Minneapolis Central Public School. John attended his third high school in four years and completed his senior year at St Thomas Military Academy. John graduated from St Thomas Academy in the spring of 1972, but this was a hollow experience as John hardly had time to make friends or feel he belonged with the class. The combination of the loss of John’s mother and the switching of high schools had a profound effect on John’s formative years and undoubtedly effected John in the later years of his life.  

In the fall of 1972 John headed to The College of St Thomas and was enrolled in the St John Vianney chapter as a resident student. John pledged a business fraternity as a sophomore and became a Frat brother. John majored in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing. During the summers off, John worked paying jobs at Pepsi, Ford, and Hoover vacuum companies. He was so proud when he was able to afford his first car, a beautiful blue Pontiac that gleamed after John hand polished it.

John graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with an emphasis on Marketing in June 1976 and was accepted to the St Paul Seminary with his aim to become a Roman Catholic priest. Despite red flag warnings during the four-year studies at the St Paul Seminary, John was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and celebrated his first mass in June 1980 at The Church of the Incarnation. The mass was held the same day as the High School graduation of his youngest brother George from the Academy of Holy Angels. The family managed both celebrations that day and George was whisked into the church for most of John’s first mass. What a celebration it was for the family, but the Bussmann family most certainly missed our beloved mother, who had passed on 10 years prior. She would have been so proud of John.

John’s first assignment was at St Michaels in Stillwater, Mn. John thrived at St Michaels and did an outstanding job as an associate pastor for three years. In 1983 John was transferred to Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale, Mn. This was the same area that John’s mother grew up in. John had many disagreements with the Pastor at Sacred Heart and after two years, he was suspended and reprimanded to The Church of the Paracletes in New Mexico for spiritual renewal. From 1985 to 1998, John did not practice as a priest and worked as a quality consultant in private industry. He had roles surveying nursing and funeral homes and using that data to provide improvement recommendations.  

In 1998, after many years of petitioning the Archdiocese, John was allowed to resume his priestly duties and was assigned as the Pastor at St Walburga in Fletcher, Mn and St Marin in Rogers, Mn churches. John brought the parishes together and they formed a new church called Mary Queen of Peace in Rogers, Mn in 2001. The new church was thriving, but behind the scenes John was committing unpriestly actions. He was charged in March 2003 with felony counts of theft by swindle, indecent exposure, and criminal sexual activity committed while providing ongoing counseling to parishioners. John was convicted by a jury of his peers in 2005 and sentenced to 48 months in prison and to report as a Sexual Predator Level 3 upon his release. Probation was set for 10 years and would expire in 2015.

John served 33 months at the Moose Lake, Mn prison and was released home to serve the remaining 15 months under home arrest. Upon completion of his 48-month sentence., John was left to serve out his probation. John carved out a monastic life in the remaining 12 years of his life. His past actions had ruined any chance of a return to gainful employment in society. Although he interviewed well, when it came time to check references and his online footprint, he routinely was disqualified from any chance of employment. The inability to work and use his god given abilities to contribute to society weighed heavy on John and that resulted in increased depression and anxiety, reliance on prescription drugs to cope, and increased alcohol use.

John was found unresponsive and pronounced dead in the Watergate Marina waters near his houseboat on Friday afternoon, September 3, 2021 at 1:30PM. John’s surviving siblings were notified and were saddened by the loss of their brother.  John’s body was taken to the Ramsey County medical examiner and an autopsy has been performed. John was cremated and his ashes placed in an urn to be shared with his siblings. John’s family knows that his struggle for relevance, forgiveness, and happiness on earth is over and that he is in the hands of almighty God.