Obituary of John Paul Synhorst

John Paul Synhorst. 93, of Newton, passed away Monday morning, August 20, 2012, at Skiff Medical Center in Newton, under the care of Skiff Hospice. Funeral services for John will be 2:00 p.m., Saturday, September 1, 2012, at the First United Methodist Church in Newton. Pence - Reese Funeral Home in Newton, have been entrusted with the arrangements. Visitation will be Saturday, 1:00 p.m. until service time, at the church. Burial will be in Newton Union Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials are being designated in John's name to: First United Methodist Church or the Good Samaritan Fund at Park Centre, and may be left at the church or funeral home. John, the son of Richard and Freda (Reuvers) Synhorst, was born December 31, 1918, in Oskaloosa. He graduated from Newton Senior High School, Class of 1936. He attended Central College and Iowa State University, graduating with a degree in chemical engineering. He worked for Mid-Continent Petroleum in Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1941 to November 1945, when he returned to Newton and joined his father and brother-in-law at Newton Implement Company. He remained at the Implement Company until his retirement in 1985. On Jan. 27, 1946, John was united in marriage with Margaret (McNeely), in Tulsa. A longtime resident of the Newton area, he was active in International Harvester Company committee's in Iowa and on numerous committees at First United Methodist Church in Newton. He had devoted his life to his family and enjoyed golf and loved traveling, vacations across the United States with his family, cruises, trips to Hawaii, winters in Arizona, and annual trips to North Long Lake in Minnesota. He also loved going on fishing trips with friends, his daughter and son-in-law, and his grandson, Matthew. John was a kind and warm hearted gentleman, and will be greatly missed by those who knew and loved him. John was preceded in death by his parents and a sister Betty Pittman. Those left to honor John's memory include his loving wife of 66 years, Margaret; two daughters Chris (Bob) Lewis of Des Moines and Paula West of Brainerd, Minnesota; grandsons Matt (Kelly) Ripley and John Lewis and granddaughter Erin (Ryan) Krois; great grandsons Jacob and Tyler Krois and Blake and Connor Ripley; sister June (Roy) Taylor of Peoria, Arizona and brother-in-law Fred Pittman of Newton; and many friends. .