John E. Sheehan

John Emmet Sheehan, born December 21, 1923, died August 23, 2018.

John Sheehan was born the oldest of three sons on Rogers Street on Milwaukee’s southside in the midst of the Depression, when a bucket of beer cost a nickel from the tavern next door.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in World War II as a navigator on a B-17. His crew, the Seventh Son, survived against long odds on some of the earliest missions to Eastern Europe from England. On his last mission, John was assigned as navigator to a crew whose navigator’s ears had burst on their most recent mission. The Seventh Son, with a replacement navigator, was shot down a few days later over Germany. Only the gunner survived.

John returned from the War and, on a visit home, met Jeannette McGill at a local watering hole. He didn’t know it but she was engaged at the time to another man. He called her at her parents’ home after that first meeting, always asking for “Irish.” Jeannette’s father was convinced he did not remember her Christian name. After meeting John, however, Jeannette called things off with her fiancé and she and John were married in 1947.

Over the course of the next several years three children arrived: Jack, Tim and Cathy. They were followed thirteen years later by Ruth.

John and Jeannette bought a cape cod on Cleveland Avenue and became charter members of St. Gregory the Great parish, where John was a regular reader, a member of the parish council, a president of Christian men and long-time president of their St. Vincent De Paul Society – up until his early 90s.

He was a pack leader in the Boy Scouts, and taught his kids the value of hard work and frugality.

But make no mistake, John was not just the typical 1950s father.

When John graduated the University of Wisconsin with an engineering degree, he used a sliderule to do his computations. He ended his long career as an engineer by designing and implementing the first robotics system for the most dangerous part of the factory at the Kohler Co., the foundry.

John was an early and devout advocate of daily exercise. He went for runs even in the middle of winter, along lonely roads outside of Sheboygan Wisconsin that demanded even the cows’ attention. He continued his routine up until last December, when his health began to fail.

He was a longtime believer in organic farming, and to Jeannette’s horror, started a compost pile in a chicken wire enclosure in their backyard on Cleveland Avenue. He was a grower of kohlrabi, swiss chard and rhubarb before the culinary world deemed them cool. He dug trenches in his victory garden on Cleveland Avenue for what became a thriving asparagus patch – he nearly wept when, moving from Milwaukee, he had to surrender those plants to another owner.

Over the years, he grew grapes – and made wine. He tried to make beer – undrinkable. He enjoyed cooking special dishes such as spaghetti sauce, chicken cacciatore, and homemade bread.

As an engineer, he was fascinated by process; he loved factory tours and visited every winery and brewery along the path of every trip he ever took. No surprise – he thoroughly enjoyed his daily attitude adjustment, and desultory conversation, with Jeannette.

John nurtured an abiding curiosity throughout his life. He stopped to read so many historical markers Jeannette referred to them as “hysterical” markers. He took up woodworking in his 40s and learned to snorkel in his late 70s. He was an avid consumer of the news, reading his Journal-Sentinel cover to cover every day. He loved to talk politics. He referred to himself as an Independent; one of his sons referred to him as a Socialist. That made him chuckle.

John had the rare ability to laugh at himself, which was one of the many personal attributes that made him a remarkable husband, father, and friend. He was unfailingly kind – but also forthright. If you screwed up a hand in bridge, well, let’s just say he would mention it. He was partnered with a priest in one game at St. Camillus, and John, who never was one to swear, asked him afterward: “Father, what the hell were you thinking?”

Most of all he lived a life of faith, bolstered by innumerable good works. In addition to his work with St. Greg’s and St. Vincent, he was a tutor at the Laubach Literacy Center, and longtime volunteer with St. Ben’s meal program and SHARE.

It was John’s faith that lent sweetness to his happiest days, and made him so resilient up until the end. That resilience is part of the fabric that is in his children, and in his grandchildren and great grandchildren. The idea that he lives on in his family members was humbling for him. He was proud of his children; he was amazed by his grandchildren and purely delighted by his great grand kids.

John was predeceased by his wife Jeannette, and his brother Ray. He is survived by his four children – Jack (and Anita) Sheehan of Lancaster, South Carolina, Tim (and Nancy) Sheehan of Whitefish Bay, Cathy (and Ken) Lepkowski of Madison, Georgia, Ruth Sheehan (and Harry Payne) of Raleigh, NC; 10 grandchildren and seven great grands; as well as his beloved brother Tom and sister-in-law Edith Sheehan, sister-in-law Kathy (and Ed) Rajek of Eden Prairie, MN, and dear friend Edmund Doelger.

In lieu of flowers, memorials to St. Vincent de Paul of St. Gregory the Great Church appreciated.