Jonathan Tishken

Jonathan Michael Tishken, handsome Mr. October of the 2014 DSAMN calendar, gifted us with his personality, talents, humor, and presence and was well-loved by his family and devoted caregivers. Jon, born in Racine, WI on Oct 6, 1962, passed with loved ones present on Nov 8, 2016. Jon was a patriot who loved the American flag, the National Anthem, and God Bless America. Music was an important part of his life; he loved to share his talents on the harmonica and the organ, especially to play Happy Birthday at family parties or Silent Night at Christmastime, among many other songs. He had fun singing Hello Dolly while dancing with his mother; he took every opportunity to conduct music A la Lawrence Welk, a family favorite TV show for many years. He was a mega-fan of Star Wars and loved all the characters, both the heroes and the villains. And if you asked, "Who you gonna call?!", he'd fire back, "Ghostbusters!" and start suiting up for the ghost hunt. He believed that ghost hunting was one of his many callings; he was an avid reader who could tell you much about the Titanic, shipwrecks, and haunted houses. Jonathan may have loved all things haunted first or it was his watching "Scooby Doo" on Saturday mornings that hooked him - sometimes during the cartoon he'd exclaim "Come on, Scooby!" or "Come on, Gang!" and jump up and run to solve a mystery! He constructed many Lego sets over the years and was especially fond of the police and firefighters of his Lego worlds - Jonathan was one of the good guys (unless he was in full Darth Vader character)! In fact, Jon visited many fire stations over the years, as he believed another of his callings was to fight fires, and even got to dress in firefighter gear or sit in the driver's seat of a fire truck a few times! He enjoyed and was quite good at both bowling and swimming; it was sometimes hard to get him out of the pool - he would go under water to ignore your calling his name to get out. He was proud of his participation in the Special Olympics in his teens in both swimming and track. He traveled over quite a bit of the United States with family - there is much photographic evidence of his having had fun in so many neat places! Jon loved to be loved, be affectionate with family and caregivers, and to hear compliments, especially how handsome he was and that he had beautiful blue eyes and Tom Selleck eyebrows. To know Jon was to love him and be affected by his charm and worldview.

Jon was preceded in death by his fiercely proud mother Micki (nAC.e Droysen), his father John, and brothers Charlie and Richard. He is survived and continues to be loved by loving sisters Ginny (Tom) and Pat (Dan) and brother Jim (Judy), his many nieces and nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews.

A celebration of Jon's life will be held Saturday, Nov 19, at Bradshaw Celebration of Life Center, Stillwater [2800 Curve Crest Blvd, 55082]. Visitation begins at 10, service at 11, interment at Rutherford Cemetery following lunch. In lieu of flowers, please donate to Down Syndrome Association of MN (dsamn.org) or Special Olympics MN (somn.org).