John Enz

Memorial Service: https://vimeo.com/929918211

Tribute Video: https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/MQ53Y22YZTBPNMQW

John Walter Enz, 82, died from Alzheimer's on March 27, 2024, at Touchmark at Harwood Groves, Fargo, N.D. He is remembered for his wisdom, love of weather, sense of humor, and dislike for shirts that go over the head.

John was born in 1941, in De Pere, Wisconsin, to the late Walter and Edna (Nickel) Enz. He grew up on the family farm outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin. John would get up at 5 a.m. to milk, feed and bed the cows and clean the barn before heading off to the one-room schoolhouse with 15 students in eight grades. He graduated from DePere High School.

In 1965, after several years of working on the family farm and doing manual labor jobs, John returned to college at age 25 and graduated with a mathematics and secondary education degree from the University of Wisconsin in Stevens Point. He met Barbara Lepinski there, and they were married on Thanksgiving Day in 1967.

After graduate school at the University of Minnesota, John moved to Fargo in 1977 with Barb and their children, Pam and Michael.

John was a professor in soil science at North Dakota State University and the North Dakota State Climatologist from 1977 until his retirement in 2006. He established the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network or NDAWN in 1989 to collect weather data to help farmers with weather-related problems. After retirement, John was appointed emeritus professor, and he co-authored a widely distributed article on air temperature inversions and pesticide spray drift.

John enjoyed photography, refinishing furniture, working on house projects, playing cards, hunting for antiques and biking. He took up rollerblading when he turned 50, before transitioning to walking. More recently John enjoyed walking a couple of miles each day with Barb, either through the hallways at Touchmark or outside if the weather permitted.

John was preceded in death by his parents, in-laws, brother-in-law Al Bohrtz and sister Mabel Bohrtz. He is survived by Barbara, his wife of 56 years, his children Pam (Jason) Gibb and Michael (Amanda) Enz, grandchildren Claire and Alex Gibb and Everett, Adair and August Enz, and numerous sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, cousins, nieces and nephews.

Special thanks to the nurses and staff in the memory unit at Touchmark and Hospice of the Red River Valley for their care.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to a charity of your choice.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, with a visitation one hour prior, at Hanson-Runsvold Funeral Home, 215 7th Street South, Fargo, N.D.