Alan J. Bresnahan

Alan J. Bresnahan, age 59, of Shakopee, passed away unexpectedly from esophagus cancer on Thursday, August 21, 2025, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park.

A celebration of life will be held on Tuesday September 9, 2025, from 4-7pm at Ballard-Sunder Funeral & Cremation, 4565 Pleasant Street SE, Prior Lake. The celebration will continue afterwards at the Prior Lake VFW.

Alan was born May 14, 1966, in St. Peter Mn. As a kid, Alan enjoyed fishing, sports, hunting, and was in Scouts. He attended Dakota Vocational School for Culinary Arts. He put those learned skills to use at many restaurants, the most popular being The Chart House in Lakeville. After his cooking career, he followed in his dad’s footsteps and worked for the US Post Office for a bit. He then received the opportunity to work at Western National Insurance, starting in the mail room. He moved up the ladder at WNINS, spending almost 27 years there, working till the end as a Work Comp Adjuster. During his early years at WNINS, he had missed cooking. He then ran into an old friend at Elko Speedway and after a few Saturday nights “helping” in the kitchen, he ended up being Elko’s event & concession chef for over 7 years.

Speaking of Elko Speedway, the summer of 1997, that’s where Alan met Gina. She was there cheering on her friends that raced stock cars. At the time, Alan was there working alongside his brother Tim doing the wrecker service at the speedway. Gina’s race friend's pit stall was right next to friends of Alan & Tim. After a bit of coaxing, they sat at the speedway one evening until the wee hours talking and talking. The rest is history. They got married in Waconia on October 23, 1999.

Alan enjoyed racing, he & Gina were season pass holders at Kansas Speedway for 10 years. Even when Alan was working at Elko, he enjoyed seeing some of the action and made lifelong friends there. His love of sports had brought him to be a coach for a women’s softball team and play on a softball league himself, finding some lifelong friends there as well.

Alan loved to golf and was in the Prior Lake VFW league for many years and golfed every Sunday with his dad and a few of his dad’s close friends. He also loved to bowl and was a league bowler for 25+ years. But when it comes to cards, watch out!! Some of us called Alan a card shark. You do know the score keeper ALWAYS wins the game!

Alan & Gina enjoyed traveling. They loved to cruise, being on roughly 8-9 cruises together. Alan had thought that the beautiful blue water of the Caribbean only existed on TV or in travel brochures until he saw it in person and was just in awe. A Saturday or Sunday drive somewhere was never out of the question, which usually brought them to a brewery or 2 (or 3).

About 6 years ago, Alan & Gina had the opportunity to purchase a camper from a friend’s dad. They enjoyed going to a different campground each month. Their favorite areas were Lanesboro, Winona, and Two Harbors. They then found a nice permanent location in Sandstone where a few of their friends camped. They’ve now enjoyed 3 seasons there and love that it’s a beautiful hour drive to Duluth and had enjoyed going further up the North Shore where they loved to go hike the trails, see the waterfalls, and see the sights of Lake Superior.

In February 2024, Alan was diagnosed with esophagus cancer. He fought a hard fight for 18 months, being in and out of the emergency room for one complication or another from the treatments he was going through. It wasn’t an easy road dealing with his illness. He yearned to be able to enjoy all the life he said he wanted to live yet and it weighed very heavily on his mind. He just wasn’t ready to go.

Al will be forever loved by his wife of just shy of 26 years, Gina; siblings, Tim (Kara) Bresnahan, Ann Schmidt; nephews & niece, Austin (Kate) Schmidt, Riley Schmidt, Rayni Bresnahan, Braden Bresnahan; mother-in-law, Janet (Gene) Hanson; aunts, uncles, cousins, and many, many friends.

Greeting Al home in Heaven are his parents Roger and Myrna Bresnahan, and father-in-law Phil Zingsheim.

Alan, you will forever be missed! ❤️