John “Jack” Edward Paul Dreyzehner

John “Jack” Edward Paul Dreyzehner, 82, of Glenview, Illinois, and South Pasadena, Pinellas County, Florida passed away on Monday, November 28th, 2022 in his Florida home. John was born in Chicago, IL on October 30 th , 1940, the firstborn son of a German immigrant mother and a second generation German-Irish-English immigrant father – the late John F. Dreyzehner and Anneliese (née Vorsatz) Dreyzehner. On June 10 th , 1962, he married Faith Rose (née Damergy) Dreyzehner at the Corpus Christi Catholic Church, in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Together, they shared 60 years and 171 days of marriage.

John had a richly blessed and honorable life. John’s story was an American story, a love story. He had a remarkable ability to learn quickly, work tirelessly, protect fiercely, act honorably, befriend loyally and love deeply. These gifts helped him overcome and prosper through a series of adversities faced as a young person and later, together with his beloved wife. “She made me who I am.,” he often said. To Faith, he attributed his drive, resilience and ultimately, his joy, contentment, and final peace with his remarkable and wonderful life. Attending him, surrounding him with love, in the early morning hours of his death were the love of his life Faith; his daughter Tracey Grossi and her husband Frank; his son John J. Dreyzehner and John J.’s wife Jana. John’s mind was blessedly clear until just a few hours before he breathed his last breaths, gently holding the hand of his beloved Faith. In what would be just four hours before John died, all of them came together around his bed, holding hands, for prayer, and after their words to him and to God of love, gratitude, and acceptance of his passing, together the five began to say the Lord’s Prayer, when John E. joined them in that prayer with a clear voice. Mercifully too, each of his five beloved grandsons, his two granddaughters-in-law and his two great-grandsons had all been with him at the hospital on a last grateful Thanksgiving and helped take him back into his Florida home the next day, surrounding him with their loving words, prayers, and gratitude.

John received a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma first manifest on October 30 th , 2022 and faced this sudden illness bravely. “I am at peace with it” he said, “This is a part of life.” His chief concern was for his survivors, especially his beloved wife. He never once evinced any anger, fear, or anxiety to his family regarding the likely outcome of the suddenly detected and aggressive cancer. He protected them. He made sure all knew how much he loved them. He insisted on attending a long-planned November 11, 2022 Veteran’s Day Ceremony in Abingdon, Virginia. There he was honored and helped unveil a large statue of a lone combat boot, a new memorial commissioned by his children in the expansive Veteran’s Park where years before a tree was planted in his honor.

John was a USMC Mortar Man, and expert marksman, entering the service in 1957 at age 17. Frequently tapped as an honor guard and snapped for a Marine recruiting poster, the previously career-minded Corporal (E-4) Dreyzehner transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve following 4 years of active duty after meeting Faith in a blind date while on station in New York, NY in 1961. To the USMC, he owed meeting his “New Jersey gal” Faith, then a production assistant at NBC studios in New York. After they wed, the two decided to move back to Chicago as Faith’s father had already passed a few years before, and her mother had passed during their courtship. John got a job as a diesel mechanic and later was their youngest-ever foreman at International Harvester in Chicago. Faith soon became pregnant, and the couple purchased a recently built home in the Chicago suburb of Glenview. This starter home became their “forever home.” Son John J. was born in July 1963, and daughter, Tracey, in October 1965. There they would raise their two children, host many parties, holidays, barbecues and other gatherings of friends, neighbors, family, and later grandchildren. There they would become empty nesters, sail boaters, and retire in the mid-2000s.

John was a lifelong resident of Chicagoland, Illinois, raised there in the city and running with a pack of childhood friends, the “Neva Avenue boys,” who remained lifelong friends, enjoying regular get togethers to the present time and memorable annual “family picnics” every summer for many years. He and Faith eventually acquired a second home in Florida in 2014, a few miles away from one of their children; and enjoyed frequent visits and wonderful times and trips with their children and their grandchildren. In Florida, they delighted in the feeling of being “second-time newlyweds” in their lovely waterfront condominium where John would pass. After his time at International Harvester, John and Faith started their own small trucking business in the late 1960s, purchasing a sleeper cab Peterbilt. John was the driver and mechanic, Faith the business manager. Though the business was fraught with challenges of the time and did not have the material success hoped for, the family was proud of his life and times as a “trucker” and the many special times and memories brought to the family when traveling the country as children, alone with their dad, or together as a family, in that iconic green striped truck. Faith encouraged John to use his considerable truck knowledge and skills in semi-truck sales. John gained success in this field where he spent the rest of his working life. He moved into heavy mining and construction equipment and worked for several companies before being tapped for a regional management and sales position of a multi-state area out of Chicago for Alimak (of Sweden) for more than 25 years. There he thrived, built a respected team selling to and servicing many clients, and being looked to and respected for his operational expertise and engineering skills, frequently consulting with professional engineers, who presumed he shared their education background. There, he earned distinctions of Regional and International Salesman of the Year and was loved and respected by the team he stewarded for a quarter century.

John was a member of St. Isaac Jogues Catholic Church in Niles, Illinois for many years, where his children were educated through the eighth grade. John converted from the Lutheran faith to the Catholic faith in the 1960s, supporting his wife and children. He received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, while hospitalized on November 23rd. He and Faith recently became parishioners of St. Jude the Apostle Cathedral near their Florida home. John was a member and officer of several professional organizations over the years but took the greatest recent pleasure in his volunteer service with the Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots charity. He was also a Scout leader for many years, fondly remembered and respected by many of the scouts he mentored long into their adulthood. In mid-October 2022, as was their routine, John and Faith left their Glenview home of almost 60 years for what would be the last time traveling down to Florida. Excepting time in the USMC, a few winters in Scottsdale, AZ connecting with beloved cousins, and his last years splitting time in their new Florida home, they spent most of their time in Chicago. As a Marine, John also lived in Hawaii, New York (where he met his New Jersey gal, Faith), briefly Okinawa, Japan, and several other training and extended temporary duty locations and aboard ship. As a child and young man, John spent a great deal of time in Missouri on what had been his paternal grandfather’s farm, working and playing with dear uncles, aunts, and cousins. He often remarked how healing this was for him and how much he loved being there with that family in the days of his youth. All who knew John knew he was an avid and accomplished sailor and boating enthusiast, first with the 25-foot sailing sloop “Keeping the Faith” and later with the 36-foot Catalina Sailing Yacht “Sausea”, docked for many years in front of Soldier’s Field in Chicago’s Burnham Harbor, where he and Faith joyously entertained children, grandchildren, and friends for more than 20 years. He was a competitive marksman with deep technical expertise born of his Marine Corps experiences and many days spent shooting on the Missouri farm of his paternal grandfather. John was a motorcyclist and traveler, with those seven broken ribs from the “Tail of the Dragon” as a souvenir.

John was a dedicated and wide reader who enjoyed both technical books on sailing, navigation, and mechanical arts along with many novels. From books, years of practical experience, hard work, and particularly his keen intellect, he gleaned engineering, mechanical, and construction expertise that was sought out by trained professionals when he was in the workplace and benefited his friends and family over many years of his generous assistance. Without a doubt, his proudest achievements were his service to his country in the USMC and his care and protection of his family that began with his marriage to the woman of his dreams and the love of his life, Faith. Though his own education was untraditional and hard won, he was very proud of the educational success of his own two children and later, his grandchildren. His daughter became both a small business owner and a teacher, and his son, inspired by his dad’s military service, became a fellow veteran, medical doctor and eventually a local, state, and federal public official. He was quiet but extremely proud of the accomplishments of his children and grandchildren and whom he loved; following them closely, often without them even being aware of it until he mentioned what he had seen. He was also delighted by the birth and exploits of his two great-grandsons now 14 and 17 months, with whom he spent considerable time within the brief time they had together on this earth.

Among uncountable memories, was a special memory of his son while he worked for his dad at the Alimak Chicago crane yard in the summer of 1984. On a sunny afternoon, an older trucker came into the site with a long trailer for a delivery of a portion of a tower crane. The trucker tried several times to back the rig in but couldn’t maneuver the trailer into the yard where another crane was positioned to remove the load. “There is no way, it’s too tight” he said, “You’re going to have to move that crane out or the fence to get this thing in there.” John E. grinned and said, “You mind if I try?,” “You got a license” the trucker replied. John smiled again and flashed his CDL. “Go ahead and try,” said the driver. John jumped in the rig, put it in gear and pulled far forward, then he began to back it up, quicker than any expected. A minute later, he had maneuvered the trailer into perfect position through the gate and the yard crane was readied to move the load. No one would have known that John E. had not been behind the wheel of a big rig for years. The other trucker, several co-workers and John’s son were awestruck with how easy he made it look. He had a particular knack for spatial reasoning. It was a wonderful moment of a son’s pride in his impressively skilled dad.

John’s family said that the two words that describe him best were loving and protector:

*Love* in all, its forms, romantic, fatherly, brotherly, neighborly, love of country, and freedom.

*Protector* always prepared to protect his family, his neighbors and friends, his community, and his country.

John was a true patriot; it was another way he quietly demonstrated love and lived up to the oath he took long ago in the United States Marine Corps. Like the movie character of ‘George Bailey,’ he made a quiet but substantial difference in the lives of many family members and friends, some of whom were close to him for nearly 80 years, and all of whom loved him for it. He did not seek recognition, rather avoided it, yet was a kind, humble and integral person you could count on. ‘A friend, a friend would like to have.’ John had a “wonderful life” and no one who knew him was quite ready to be without him. He is survived by his wife- Faith R. Dreyzehner, son- Dr. John (Jana) J. Dreyzehner, daughter- Tracey (Frank) Grossi, and five Grandsons; John (Jennifer) Dreyzehner, Jason (Angela) Dreyzehner, Trevor Grossi, Troy Grossi, Grant Grossi, two Great-grandsons; “Ollie” John Oliver Wolfe Dreyzehner (John and Jenn) and Aidan Christopher Dreyzehner (Jason and Angela). A niece, Kristina Dreyzehner, Grandniece Sophia Dreyzehner, a sister-in-law Jane (John) Bauer, and their children David Bauer (Christina) and Robin Taylor (Kevin), numerous dear cousins, cousins-in-law, and many, many dear friends.

He was preceded in death by his parents- John F. And Anneliese Dreyzehner, parents-in-law- Joseph and Helen Damergy, brothers- William Gray Dreyzehner and infant brother- Bobby, nephews- Jeff Dreyzehner, a ‘second brother’ and fellow Marine- Brian Clery, his grandparents, numerous uncles, aunts, cousins, and friends. Thanks be to God for the remarkable, wonderful life, and gentle passing of this man- a patriot, a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, brother-in-law, cousin, and friend.

A viewing and visitation will be held in John’s honor on Sunday, December 4 th , 2022 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM at Veterans Funeral Care, located at 830 N. Belcher Road Clearwater, FL.

His Catholic Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, December 6 th , 2022 at 2:00 PM at St Jude the Apostle Cathedral located at 5815 5th Avenue North, St Petersburg, FL. (Important: Please park in the 5 th Ave parking area and enter the church there rather than the Tyrone Blvd entrance. The church has advised that the school traffic will cause a conflict with
the Tyrone entrance)

Lastly, John’s committal service, with military honors, will be held on Wednesday, December 7 th , 2022 at 9:30 AM at Sarasota National Cemetery, located at 9810 State Rd 72, Sarasota, FL.

In lieu of flowers, if you wish, donations in his honor to his beloved charity, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots at https://www.toysfortots.org/donate/, where he personally gave many hours of joyful service would be cherished by the family and treasured by the children served by the 75 year old charity.

Thank you for reading this brief tribute to John and his God-given wonderful, honorable life, well lived. You may be a loved one dear to him or his family and we are deeply sorry for your loss and pray for your comfort, peace and continued joy in this life.

Eulogy at St. Jude Cathedral December 6, 2022

A Prayer–Father God, help me to be strong in my weakness, courageous in my fear, gracious and kind in my anger and resentment, humble in my pride, loving in my hate.

Help me to be so toward those I care for, those I do not, and towards myself, your child, whose hurt can never be salved until I am in your loving, infinite arms once more. AMEN

This beloved man here and yet, not here at all:  A proud Marine, a defender of his nation, of each of us and our way of life. A ‘Mortar Man,’ with the hearing aids to prove it. An expert marksman, in the Marines and all his life. An honor guard, honoring fallen heroes in his dress blues as he soon, in his turn, will be honored. A sailor and captain, a pastime as a young Marine, which would lead later to many years of joy in the cockpit of a sailboat with his loved ones. A diesel mechanic with a work ethic that catapulted him to a shop foreman, the youngest ever at the time, which made him proud.

A small business founder and long-haul trucker, owning and operating a magical (for his children at least) Peterbilt truck; a knight of the open road,—using his mechanic skills to help fellow truckers when other help was far away and his leadership and martial skills to give his fellow owner- operators heart and hope as they faced off against violent unions, and corrupt politicians and media in 1970s Chicago.  A salesman who knew his products exceptionally deeply and had lived the needs of his customers.

A regional sales and service manager, who led by example and was loved by his team, respected by his customers and admired by the engineers he advised as he worked for a Swedish crane manufacture who would value him highly the last 25 years of his working life—and where he would for a brief but very special time, employ me, his son to learn the lessons of showing up early daily, of working with people very different from oneself in a culture, much its own and of watching a skilled leader, his ‘Dad’, lead with humility and a servants heart, but also with the gusto to not countenance bullying guff from a worker who made other colleagues unhappy, and with the hidden skills to call his suppliers bluff—and provide his son proud memories in the process.  He taught me much more than I knew at the time.

This loving, giving, honorable, courageous, wonderful man; A son, grandson, brother, nephew, cousin, friend, husband, father, uncle, grandfather, great grandfather, –roles more important to him in his living years than even the uniform he once wore, and roles that are ultimately his legacy.  A legacy of love—John Edward Paul “Jack” Dreyzehner–my Dad, is in God’s loving and infinite arms once more and all his hurts are salved. Beyond imagining.

Our hurts are not salved, and least of all the pain of his passing from this life, and we miss him terribly. He is now, for a time, gone from our sight. And one day sooner or later, we can hope, he will see us coming, whistle for us and say, “over here,” and welcome us home.

He was a great dad. I told him that. I speak with authority. And the love of his life, my Mom, is a great Mom. My dad said, “She made me who I am” and “I would be nothing without her.”  My sister Tracey and I were blessed to be their children and to be able to tell each of them and both of them just how much we loved them, how great they were, many times over the years and to say it especially clearly in what were these last mortal days for my dad.

Together John and Faith were a great couple, as with the best, the whole more than the sum of its parts. They were blessed with a union of 60 years. His greatest concern upon his passing was for her, his Faith, and her comfort, and we told him we would see to it, and we will.

Now his earthly body is here before us. His soul left us in the early morning of November 28th after 82 years. Now he is in heaven with our Lord and all eternity, more whole and more alive than ever before. While we here yet linger in this place, on this earth, living the gift of this precious mortal life until our time comes.

It surprised me to realize this. I didn’t think of it clearly in his life, but as I wrote about him in his obituary, as my mother and sister and Jana considered what bible verses to read at his funeral, I realized my father’s story was more than anything, a love story and while perhaps not uncommon, what a beautiful thing that was. John Edward Paul Drezyehner’s story was a love story that began even before he was born, was manifest in him and will continue many years after his passing. My words today cannot truly do justice to Dad’s wonderful and remarkable life, blessedly well lived, but I pray I am capturing some of its essence and meaning.

This love story begins long before my dad— in a real sense in the mists of deep time, but in memory– with the love of an earlier father, my beloved Papa. While Papa died when I was just 5, I know, with the help of some lesser-known family history, that my own Dad, at least the idea of him, was desperately loved and wanted, even before he was conceived.  You see Papa, so badly wanted a child that he and those who loved him, sacrificed much even to make it possible.  The gift of God to Papa and my Grandma, the firstborn son of John F. and Anneliese Dreyzehner, was my father, called “Jack” by his childhood family. “Jack” was deeply loved, by his family, though like all of us imperfect parents, there were, as there always ARE, issues.

It’s funny, to see your dad as a small child, smiling back at you holding a chicken about as big as he was.  But there it is in a photograph. There is a story about that chicken. And it is it is probably not uncommon for those who suffer through times of privation like my dad and his family experienced in those extremely difficult WW II years, particularly difficult for their German immigrant family.

And though I heard the story, I think it came first from my mom, my dad still seemed to have trouble telling it, even late in life.  He loved that chicken; you can see it in the photo of him hugging it. One day, the chicken disappeared, and he was frantic. Dinner that night was chicken stew. He lost his taste for chicken for quite some time.

I tell this story it because it is poignant and plain. We all have many hurts seen and unseen, that can never be entirely salved while we live, and it helps, I think, to know that. And to know where to look for salvation. No matter what the Christmas card or social media post looks like, and whether we know it or not, we are, all of us, broken and in need of healing when we are here in this life.

The question is, can we go on, —and make things better for ourselves and others. Can we, with our love, leave things better than we found them. I think my dad did, with the help of family, friends, and especially with the help of God, who gave him the gift of his bride, in a marriage—where the two became one. Like many such stories, it is a story of both love and joy and the heartbreak that comes with it when our loves in this life, while we still live, are no more.

My father was deeply loved by his family of origin, despite the chicken story. Of that, I am sure. His own father, my ‘Papa’, was an extremely devoted father and grandfather, and even though I lost him at 5 years of age, I remember him well, he has forever remained in my heart, very dear to me, just as my dad is in my heart, in all the hearts of all who hear these words and will remain there. Until we go to be with the Lord and our hurts are finally salved.

In came more love in my dad’s life, the ancestral Missouri farm of his grandfather, a beloved respite from the vicissitudes of Chicago city life and times with wonderful cousins, aunts, and uncles that my dad said helped save and shape his life. He loved them and they loved him back, even spread out all over the country from coast to coast, biannual Dreyzehner family reunions were a wonderful part of our lives for years.

Dad was also blessed with brotherly loves of his childhood and youth, a pack of boys growing up together on Chicago’s Neva Avenue, who would become lifelong friends, Dad learned to love and be “a friend a friend would like to have” and that would echo across the years in other neighborhood friendships, very deep Marine Corps friendships, work friendships, Scouting friendships, boating and motorcycle friendships, a series of deep and lifelong brotherly loves that is reflected by the presence of friends here today and those unable to be physically present that are here in spirit.  A brotherly love that my father had in his heart for many friends, to whom he gave generously, especially in his particular love language of helping, aiding, protecting, and teaching.

He loved each of you. As, when one of his oldest friends came to see him on the day before he died, he saw him and said simply, “I can’t speak to you long Carl, but lean down here, I want to kiss you.”  If you were in his life, he wanted you to know, he loved you.

Then came his quiet but fierce love of country and freedom. dad was a patriot and a fierce protector, a keeper of his Oath to support and defend the constitution that he loved, against all enemies foreign and domestic. He lived the Second Amendment knowing that it was in order to protect the First.  Suffice to say that unless you saw him in his bathing suit, he was always prepared to defend his loves; family, friends, neighbors, community, and he was very good at it.  He understood that our nation’s founders added that clause to protect us from tyranny from without as well as from within and he did his part, as a Marine and as a citizen, to assure that it was so. To him I owe the inspiration to serve in the military and that changed my life in ways I would never have guessed, just like it did my dads.

Then came the love of his life. Twenty-two years later and he was a gift to my mother. An unlikely meeting on a blind date while he was stationed at the USNB New York. He, a “hunky” marine and she an exotic dark-haired beauty working as a young production assistant at NBC studios in the same City. I am certain that God brought them together, and “worked towards the good in all things” to bind them together. And he did so remarkably, through many joys and triumphs and trials and tribulations, for 60 years and 171 days.  And now, as he would want us to be, we are here providing comfort for his beloved life partner, my ‘Mom,’ my ‘Dad’s’ Faith.

Then came his children. My sister Tracey, who was here as soon as she knew dad was sick, ministering to him and with her husband Frank, who slept on the couch beside my dad the first night he came home from the hospital to comfort him. And me and my wife Jana, also a physician, who acted as a comfort to my dad and all of us, a doula for us in our last days together with my dad.

Then came his grandchildren, and recently his great-grandchildren. He loved you each so much and was so very proud of you. He loved you deeply. In ways you could see and ways you may not. I can’t begin to catalog all of the joys you brought him and how wonderful it was you were all, each of you, with him in his last days. So many accomplishments of yours that he thrilled to; accomplishments that for him in his own youth seemed so far out of reach. But there you each were and are, making your lives extraordinary and building on his legacy. Seeing two of you married, to wonderful wives, —he thought of you as his grandchildren too, and with children of your own, was a special joy. For each of you, for each of his grandchildren, know that he will be with you in your hearts as new partners come, and new children are born. He will not be there in life to smile that smile you might have seen from the obituary photo—taken while he was holding a grandchild, his namesake, but you can be certain he will be there in your heart and echoing in your ear. He loved you deeply.

When I think of my dad, and my mom— when I am at my best, I think of the Commandments of God, those that remind us just what we need His gift of salvation for, because we know we are too weakly human to keep all of His commandments, all of the time, in our lives and in our hearts.  Yet there is the 4th Commandment:  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.”  And among those things that we are called to honor them with, Respect, Obedience, Support, there is particularly, Gratitude. A concept my father and mother on Veteran’s day, 11 November 2022 unveiled a statue of in a park, in a town, where we raised their grandchildren, A memorial to Gratitude. Its commissioning had more than one inspiration, but at root, for Jana and I it was the inspiration of our parents, and I am so glad he was there to pull off the cover on the statue that very special day just a few weeks ago. The statue itself is a large solitary bronze combat boot, but it is a tribute to gratitude and a very small one at that.  As the Book of Sirach says, that Jewish book of wisdom and part of the Catholic cannon: “Remember that through your parents you were born; what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?”

I want to say one more thing, if you have heard me be preachy or teachy, that too is a gift of my ‘Dad.’ From an early age, he wanted to teach us. And if we wouldn’t’t listen, we could just watch him do it and hold the flashlight. He taught incessantly, a protector, to help us avoid the hard knocks that he knew would come. He instilled that in me, and certainly too in my sister Tracey, who actually is a teacher.  We can’t help it.  It was his horn and his echo, in us, forever.

Thanks be to God for the remarkable, wonderful life, and gentle passing of this man—a patriot, a devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle, brother-in-law, cousin, and friend. For all of us close to him, a source of love, of joy, an ally, an aid, a protector.

In this true love story of a noble life, well-lived, and its 60 year love story between two people who knew and were grateful that they made each other better;  a story of a father, a dad, who was a great dad and worked very hard to care for and protect his loves; his family, his friends, his communities and his Country, there were many adversities and, as in all of our lives, moments that could have ended the story sooner or changed it dramatically.  Too, each of the adversities, in the reflection of time, rendered something good. A blessing. God, in His gift of creation gave free will to those created in His image. With that free will comes evils and adversities, but also always there is God, “who we know in all things works for the good of those who love Him” (Romans 8:28) and in this story, this love story, and many stories like it, that is abundantly clear.

We are so grateful to God for the gift of this Husband, this Dad, Grandpa, Papa John and Grampy and all He did to help John E. and Faith create this wonderful legacy, in the face of their adversities, a wonderful life together so that we, in the face of ours can continue to be blessed with the stories unfolding in ways my dad. and those known and unknown fathers and mothers that came before him might have dreamed of but could not have imagined. John Edward Paul “Jack” Drezyehner’s life, in its own great and small way, is a miracle and bears true witness to the power of God.