John Henry Steinmacher, Jr.

John Henry Steinmacher Jr born in Louisville, Kentucky, and 95 years young, passed into the loving arms of God on Saturday, May 5, 2018. He was the son of John Henry Sr and Marcella Kustes Crawford who predeceased him.  John was devoted to his wife of almost 65 years, Nellie Frances Sidebottom, who died in 2010.  He was also predeceased by his three brothers, George, Jean, Robert and an infant granddaughter, Jennifer.

He is survived by five daughters: Janice (Bernie) Burden, Barbara Steinmacher, Marcella (Jere) Sawyer of Conyers, GA, Karen (Bill) Krebs and Susan (Mark) Philpott.

His ten grandchildren were fortunate to know their PawPaw as adults: Theresa Magri, Andy Burden, John Burden , Wysty Sawyer, Matthew Sawyer, Pamela Krebs, Mark Krebs, David Krebs, Barbara Cornett and Dierdre Hobart.

 And his 19 great-grandchildren (some of them are also adults!) were the light of his life: Elizabeth, Nick, Alex, Drew, Cassidy, Jackson, Knox, Riley, Joanna, Christina, Brooklyn, Adan, Harlee, Bella, Lucie, Simon, Jackson, William and Hunter.  He was so impressed with their school, sport and talent accomplishments.

John is also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Dad joined the Navy in 1943 and became a member of the 84th Seabees Construction Batallion.  He served three years in the South Pacific and was honorably discharged.  After the war, these Seabees remained connected through an annual reunion that continued for 60 years.  They became even closer as the years went by even as their once 500 member group dwindled.  We miss Mike, John, Harry, Sheldon, Sig  and many others. They worked hard in trying conditions overseas, and brought that work ethic home with them. Dad was an artist with wood.  He particularly loved a challenge and always figured a way to “fix” it.

John was a founding member of St Matthias (now Mary, Queen of Peace). He gave of his talent in helping to build St Matthias.  He crafted wooden candlesticks that were on the altar until the church moved to the “new” church on the other end of the property.  Sunday Mass was his food for the soul evidenced by his faithful attendance until his hospitalization in March.

One thing he often said was he had been so blessed to have friends that were like family and family that were like friends. His cousin, Earl, more than fills that bill.  Earl saw to it that Dad joined the “First Wednesday” breakfast and the ”Third Wednesday” lunch of cousins and friends.  If one of them was involved in a household project the other was right there tools in hand. Dad was blessed to have had Earl in his life.  He was that family who was like a friend.  And a friend that was like family is Sharon.  She came to our aid to help with Dad in his last weeks.  She did the same for our Mom and we can never repay her kindness and generosity, but we will always remember it.

Dad loved us and his greatest joy was family gatherings. Thank goodness the driveway was long and there were plenty of chairs.  Not long ago we asked him if so much noise and commotion bothered him.  He laughed and said he loved watching the little ones and the noise did not bother him at all – he just turned off his hearing aids!

John’s visitation will be Thursday, May 10th from 2 PM to 8 PM at Bosse Funeral Home, Barrett and Ellison.

Mass of Christian Burial will be Friday, May 11th at 10 AM at his parish, Mary, Queen of Peace, 4005 Dixie Highway, Shively, KY  40216 with interment immediately following at Resthaven Memorial Park, 4400 Bardstown Road.

The family asks in lieu of flowers a donation may be made to Hosparus, 3532 Ephraim McDowell Drive, Louisville, KY 40205 www.HosparusHealth.org or to Mary, Queen of Peace,  4005 Dixie Highway, Shively, KY 40216