Memorial

John “Jay” Lawrence Prediger, 71, passed away on March 21 at St. Luke’s Hospital. Jay was born on September 1, 1946, in Troy, New York, the eldest son of Lawrence and Virginia Prediger, proprietors of Prediger’s Bakery, a baking institution in Green Island, NY, which supplied delicious baked goods, especially their famous rye bread, to Albany-area residents and restaurants for decades, until its closing in 1996. Its closing prompted Jay to embark on a lifelong quest for rye bread to rival the coveted family recipe, his children’s attempts at recreating the masterful loaf never living up to the original (though he appreciated the attempts!).

He attended La Salle Institute, Hudson Valley Community College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was proud of his upstate New York roots, describing the area as God’s country.  In 1966, he transferred to Indiana State University in Terre Haute, IN, on a tennis scholarship, which is where he met the love of his life, Brenda Horton of Carlisle, Indiana. And the rest, as they say, is history. He loved and admired Brenda’s family, enjoying visits over the years to the farm in southern Indiana.

In 1973, he and Brenda moved to Cedar Rapids, IA for work at Rockwell Collins, where they remained until retirement.  In Cedar Rapids they raised three children and established lifelong friendships.  He enjoyed an active life of sports, highlights included fastpitch softball through Rockwell Collins and tennis with a special partner of 30 plus years. 

Jay was a man of many interests, with particular enthusiasm for birding, sports, music, Cape Cod, classic westerns, stamp collecting, the Atlanta Braves, Boy Scouts of America, and the Swedish pop group ABBA.  He had the ability to mentally record and recall a staggering volume of sports statistics, he created infectious music playlists that became ubiquitous at family gatherings, and he introduced his family and friends to the music of ABBA. He organized family trips to Cape Cod, inspired by his beloved boyhood tradition of summers on the Cape with his family.

In 2014 he was happy to be able to attend the 50th class reunion of his graduation from La Salle Institute in Troy, NY, where he was able to reconnect with his classmates. In 2018 he joined Facebook to maintain these connections and share memories of the good old days in his New York stomping grounds. 

He is survived by his wife, daughter Christy and her husband Jared Sour, son Matthew and his wife Susanne Grochett, and son Patrick, all of Minneapolis, MN.

Jay was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Kevin, and his sister Sheila. 

Memorials may be sent to Wickiup Hill Learning Area in Toddville, IA.