Jon Willoughby

Funeral services for Jon Willoughby, 33, of Prairie City, of Melcher-Dallas, will be Wednesday, July 14, 2021 at 11:00 a.m. at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Knoxville, Iowa. Family will receive friends on Tuesday, July 13th also at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Knoxville.

In lieu of flowers, memorials will be for his son, Parker's education, and may be made in care of Kathy Willoughby, PO Box 701 Melcher-Dallas, IA 50163.

You may join the family by watching the livestream at the following link:
https://my.gather.app/remember/jon-willoughby

Jon Willoughby was born September 5, 1987 and was adopted by Lary and Kathy Willoughby on July 6, 1990. Jon grew up in the Melcher-Dallas area and graduated from Melcher-Dallas High School in 2006. In high school Jon was active in football, basketball, baseball, and band. He was musically talented teaching himself to play the piano and guitar by ear. Jon was a huge fan of the Kansas City Chiefs and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

After high school he attended Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids studying computer science. He worked along side Lary at Heska in Des Moines for 10 years and was currently working at Cargill in Ankeny.

Jon loved people; he loved his family. There was always time to just stop in and visit with grandparents and other family members. He had a great sense of humor although maybe a little bent. Jon loved to wear shirts with sayings on them to see what kinds of reactions they would provoke, or would wear his sandals with bright white socks to make people look. He gave nicknames to those he loved, Matt was “Matthew Piggy”, Dawn was “Dawn D. Duck”, and Ariana was “Struggle Bus”, there are many more. Jon was super intelligent and had a quick wit which would often get him in trouble and would cause people to tell him to “shut up, Jon!”, sometimes even before he spoke.

Jon loved to cook and was a bit of a beer snob. He enjoyed going to craft breweries and sampling the different ales. Jon loved to share his good finds with others to try to steer them away from crappy beers like Busch Light. Jon loved a variety of music including artists like Guns N’ Roses, Green Day, Johnny Cash, Van Halen, Willie Nelson, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, to name a few. He even drove from Cedar Rapids to Des Moines on an interstate closed because of ice in his 2wd Ford Ranger to make a Red Hot Chili Pepper concert.

He loved the outdoors and being on the farm. He helped his in-laws on the farm in northern Iowa and would often help his friends around Melcher too. Jon had many ideas on how to improve efficiency on the farm, and every once in awhile he might have overturned a hay trailer or grain wagon.

Jon was married to Michelle Monroe on February 13, 2010, and was blessed with the greatest love of his life, his son, Parker. He loved to go fishing with Parker and playing “Smash Bros” with him.

On January 19, 2018, Jon was married to Ariana Christ. Their first date was at a craft brewery where they enjoyed the beer and music. Jon was Ariana’s knight in shining armor. He loved people and wished to protect everyone he loved. He was grateful to have the opportunity for being in the lives of his godchildren: Leah Adreon, Kyler Willoughby, and Ava Harvey.

Jon died at the age of 33 years. He will be greatly missed by his son, Parker; parents: Lary and Kathy Willoughby; wife, Ariana; grandparents: Lloyd and Jean Willoughby; siblings: Jessica (Luke) Adreon, Matt (Courtney) Willoughby, Darcy (Larry) Neal, Alex (Brittany) Willoughby, Diana Thomsen, Dawn Stocker, David Thomsen, Deanna Thomsen, Michael Thomsen, Darrell Kloster, and Alicia Koerselman; nieces and nephews: Adison, Leah, Brody, Ryker, Kyler, Leora, Mallory, and Soren; along with many aunts, uncles, relatives and many friends.