My Father

JOHN WESLEY KUNTZ
Sissy (my mother) always told me, " You've got your father's nose". When I ever made a humorous quip she would say, " You have your father's corny sense of humor". When I would be trying to think of new businesses I could start to make a lot of money fast, she would tell me " You are JUST like your father." Everything about me even down to my passion for ice cream, apparently is just like my dad.
I don't have a problem with that. What I have a problem with is that he was gone before I got a chance to know him. One thing that Sissy would remind me of that eased the pain of growing up with out him was " Your daddy loved you very much".
I remember a few things about him but not much. Most of what I know is what I've learned from others.
He was born in Miamisburg , Ohio, on March 18. My birthday is the 16th of March so we were both Pisces.
His mother was Elizabeth Snowflake Studebaker and his father was Frank John Kuntz. He had a sister Elizabeth (Aunt Bess) and a sister Clara. He had another sister, Rosie, that passed away at the age of 12 or 13 that supposedly bore an uncanny resemblance to me.
He grew up in an area populated by a large number of Pennsylvania Dutch people and his family's conversations were sprinkled with several colloquialisms we still find ourselves using today at home. He had many colorful stories about the people in his community and their interesting escapades.
I don't know much about how his youth was spent. I have heard that he lived with an uncle as some sort of an apprentice and that his nickname was Jody.
He was married once before he married my mom. He was quite a bit older than Sissy when they got married. He and Sissy had three kids, Jack(John Wesley, Jr.), Ginny(Virginia Dawn) and me, Valerie.
I have heard that dad loved to cook and was very good at it . He also made a major deal out of holidays.
According to my brother, Jack, Dad was hilariously funny . He could imitate people the family knew, he could make funny faces, he could recite nutty poems in foreign accents and was great at ad- libbing puns.
In the business world Dad was reportedly the General Manager of Bell Aircraft in Buffalo and had many business ventures of his own including owning a gas station, being President of the Monarch Mortgage Corporation and the Oklahoma Royalty Corporation.
In his earlier years he was said to be a flamboyant jack of all trades including owning a gambling ship and being a prize fighter and daredevil. He was an aviator and wrote a course on aeronautics. It was rumored that he had some ties to the black market.
Things I do remember are his always having on a crisp white long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He had a pleasant aroma of tobacco smoke when I would sit on his lap. He would walk me to school holding my hand. He had big strong nice hands. He taught me how to ride a two wheeler. We would go to concerts in the park and sit on a blanket on the grass. He would swing me on the playground swing sets. I remember lots of laughter and warm feelings. I remember feeling loved.
Among the family memorabilia that I have been digging into in order to write these family websites, I have found letters from my dad to my mom and brother and sister and me. They were written when he was ill and staying with his sister, Bess, just before he passed away. In the letters he always mentioned us all by name and inquired about each of us, as to how we were doing, etc. We were all in his thoughts right to the end.
One letter came from Aunt Bess after dad was gone in which she wrote "John kept a picture of Valerie next to where he slept and to everyone that would come in he would proudly announce ' That's my daughter Val, She's my youngest' ".
I have missed him so much through out my life, especially at my weddings and Father's day. I know he did not choose to leave us. It was beyond all our control.
I do feel his presence a lot. I feel lucky that I had such a neat dad. I am glad I inherited his sense of humor, his love of holidays , his ability to cook and his entrepreneurial spirit. I'm just not too thrilled about the nose .©

VXA