The year was 1933. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president and the country was in the beginning of his ‘New Deal’ to bring the U.S. out of the Great Depression. In Kansas City, it was the year of the Kansas City Massacre in which four law enforcement officials and one prisoner were murdered at Union Station…and eventually led to the death of one of America’s most notorious gangsters, Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd. But all these events pale in comparison to the birth of a virtually unknown hero. Johnny Ralph Wiss was born on April 20 to Ralph and Myrtle Wiss. He started off life scaring his family as he was born blue. Luckily, his father knew that a slap to the bottom would get him breathing. Good thing; his family was too poor to afford doctors and hospitals so he was born in a shotgun shack on Kansas City’s north east district in his uncle’s home at 3428 Garner. Besides little Johnny, there was only an older sister, Mary Lavaughn, in the home. A brother had been stillborn. Mary was his older sister but really more like his mother. Because the great depression destroyed the local economy, his mother and father were constantly looking for work leaving the children at home. His father worked in the bear pits at Swope Park Zoo twelve hours a day to make minimum amount of money. Ralph doted over his only son, going so far as to buy him a Western Flyer bicycle on which he had to make payments. John had a pretty good childhood considering the neighborhood was so rough. Beat cops would buy the children comic books to keep the out of trouble and off the streets. This still didn’t stop neighborhood gangs such as the Curks Gang who terrorized the neighborhood with petty larceny and strong arm tactics. John didn’t run with the gangs, instead, he decided to stay in school as long as he could. Like many kids of his time, John had to quit school to help his family make ends meet. With only a ninth grade education he got a job working at Montgomery Wards in Kansas City in 1948. He stayed with Montgomery Ward until the Korean War broke out in 1950. Feeling the call of duty, he joined the Navy in 1951 and was assigned to a missile destroyer, the USS Hanna anchored in San Diego, CA. In 1951, the Korea War was in full swing and Harry S. Truman was president. John was assigned to the USS Hanna as a mess cook but quickly worked his way up to deck hand and eventually a gunner’s mate. As a gunner’s mate, he was responsible for the upkeep of the Hanna’s “Big” guns, two 5”/38 Caliber Mark 12. These were the main armament of the ship able to shoot 22 rounds per minute with a well trained crew. On 24 November, 1952, while shooting these rounds into a hillside on the coast of Songjin, South Korea, a mortar shell hit the #2 boiler room killing Machinist Mate 2nd Class Robert Potts. Of the five missions of shore patrol in the Korean War, MM2 Potts was the only casualty. After the Korean War, John was still assigned to the USS Hanna and toured the Pacific until 1957. His second tour of duty was over and he separated from the Navy in the rank of Seaman First Class. John had a lot of fun during his time in the Navy, many times maybe a little too much. Some times he landed in the brig for drinking and fighting. One such time he got into a squabble with some British Marines in Hong Kong. He stood at captain’s mast, which is a type of non-judicial punishment for his conduct during the fight. While he was remanded to the brig, he still managed to be one of his captain’s favorites. He was hand picked by his captain to accompany him on a landing party on the island of Palau to check out a Japanese gun box to ensure it was safe. His mom and dad sent many care packages containing cigars and cigarettes which made him popular with his shipmates. John had many exciting adventures during his time serving our country, but it, like all good things, had to come to an end. And it did in 1957. After his island hopping days were over, John returned to Kansas City and took up is old job at Montgomery Wards making a whopping $66 a week. It was at this time he met the love of his life, Marcella. They met at a local meeting place, the Hilltop Tavern in northeast Kansas City in 1958. On April 5th, 1959 they were married at home of the justice of the peace late at night. John was loved by his in-laws like one of their own children and helped out on the family farm. In turn, he enjoyed the cooking of his wife and in-laws. Like many young couples it was hard to make ends meet, especially on John’s Montgomery Wards salary and Marcella’s meager salary at the Danner Mattress Factory in North Kansas City. In 1959, John acquired a job with General Motors working for it’s oldest plant, the Leed’s plant where he painted Chevrolet’s by hand. This job was a $50 a week increase from his previous job at Montgomery Wards. Marcella got a job at City National Bank. Because of their increase in pay, they were able to finally afford the American Dream and purchase a brand new three bedroom one bath home in Glendale Gardens subdivision in Independence, Missouri in 1962. They were the third owners to purchase property in this new subdivision. John worked hard on the property getting it to his wife’s expectations. When all was ready, they decided to adopt a son, David Wayne. They brought home their new son early in 1969. John, like his father, doted over his new son. He worked hard and long making sure he had anything he ever wanted. He and his wife left for work at 4:30 A.M. so they would take their new son to a neighbors house so that he could be watched before school. Daycare cost John $10 a week. Later, he’d raise that amount to $15 a week because of inflation. As time went on his only son would graduate from high school and join the Air Force. At the same time, the plant he was working closed down. When it was all said and done, John had worked for General Motors for 30 years and 2 months. Now, he would stay home and take care of his wife who had developed heart problems. In 1989, John’s wife Marcella began showing symptoms of heart disease. This was confirmed in 1991 and she had a quadruple heart bypass and valve replacement. Because of her health, she was forced to retire from Hallmark Cards. Shortly after the surgery, she developed macular degeneration which took her eyesight. John was now her caregiver. He worked twice as hard as he ever had making sure the love of his life was as comfortable as she could be. The house was immaculate, yard perfect and free of weeds. John loved his wife and their dogs. Specifically their pug, Angel. Marcella had seen a pug on TV and thought they were the cutest dogs she’d ever seen. Because he always got what his wife wanted, he sent his son and his wife 400 miles away to get a pug for her. This made her very happy. And because it made her happy, the dog made him happy too. He spoiled the dog as if it were his own child; going so far as to feed her steak, honey ham, and prime cuts of meat. John’s family grew as his son had two son’s of his own now and a step daughter. Because the family was growing, John and his wife decided that they needed a bigger home and moved less than a mile from their old house into a new five bedroom home in the Milton Estates subdivision. It was a lot of house for him to take care of at his age. But again, because it was what his wife wanted, he got it for her. Now there was plenty of room for his son and his family to come visit. As his wife’s health deteriorated, he found it increasingly difficult to take care of the home and had to hire a company to take care of the yard; something which he hated to do because he loved to be outside and work in the yard. But he knew it was far more important to take care of his wife than the grass. His wife’s condition worsened in the spring of 2009. Just days after their 50th wedding anniversary, Marcella was admitted to the hospital. The prognosis was bleak. The quadruple heart bypass and valve replacement she’d had years ago had started to fail. She was too weak to undergo a surgery and all they could do is make her comfortable. The last months of her life were spent at home as John waited on his bride hand and foot. By November she was bed ridden. On November 9th Marcella went into a coma and passed away on Veteran’s Day, November 11th at 10:20 A.M. Maybe she chose this day because her family was all around her and both her husband and her son were veterans of Korean and Iraqi wars, respectively, and that they’d never forget the day. One thing was for certain, no man ever loved a woman so much as to spend 23 years of his life taking care of her. Through all the doctors appointments, cleaning house, doing laundry, taking care of the house, he never once complained about his back or hip hurting him. He always put his wife first before any other. In October 2010, John suffered a heart attack and developed congestive heart failure. His love of good food had caught up with him. He knew that what he was eating wasn’t the best for him, but in his opinion it was better to live how you wanted and eat what you wanted and be happy. From his humble beginnings as the son of a laborer, John was not only a veteran of a war forgotten by many, but he was also a beloved father, faithful husband, esteemed member of his church, and a man of unfathomable patience, honesty, and love. His heart was soft but his will strong. He never spoke voluntarily of all the things he’d done for others as he held modesty a high virtue. Instead he spoke highly of his family; of the great things they have accomplished and how loving they are. Little did he realize that they are a direct reflection of his upbringing and guidance. He was the blueprint that we all follow. Maybe this is what he had planned all along. On June 10th, 2014, nearly 5 years after his bride left this world to be with her heavenly Father, my dad joined her and his Savior in paradise. Surrounded by friends and loved ones, he sailed on to his eternal reward. He will be missed by all those who knew him and his heart which was much bigger than then man.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 03:55:52 +0000