John Henry Ernenputsch Jr.

August 25, 1923 - November 13, 2014 John Ernenputsch passed away peacefully at home on November 13th surrounded by his family. John was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin and grew up in Peru, Illinois. He enlisted in the Marines during WWII and was assigned as a tail gunner flying over the Caribbean on sub patrol. He met his love, Shirley, in a dance hall after the War and soon asked her to marry him and come with him to California where he would attend USC. He graduated USC as a structural engineer (has remained an avid Trojan to this day) and moved to their first and only home in the San Fernando Valley in 1950. John and Shirley were the first registered parishioners at St Genevieve's Church, their church envelopes with the number 1. He was a gifted structural and architectural engineer working on many buildings in and around Los Angeles, many of the most popular rides at Disneyland and Disney World and in his later years also engineered the 230 foot Bracci bridge over the Winchuck River in Oregon. John was a dedicated family man who took great care of all his family. He was a golfer, a coach, loved to take the family camping and loved working in the garden. He was always working on something, including taking care of his yard up to a week before he passed. He is survived by his loving wife Shirley, his children Lynn (Loren) Bracci, Janice (Ron) Simmons, Leslie (Scott who passed away in 2013) Smith, and John (Kelly) Ernenputsch III - his son Tom Ernenputsch passed away suddenly in April of this year. He is also survived by his sisters Norma Leibold and Janet Pioli, his 13 grandchildren, Jim, Kim, Todd, Tami, Josh, Haylie, Rusty, Brett, Kristen, Matthew, John IV, Alex and Eric as well as numerous great-grandchildren. He will be dearly missed. Services will be held on Saturday, November 22nd at 9am (viewing at 8:30am) at San Fernando Rey De Espana Mission in Mission Hills (coordinated by Mission Hills Catholic Mortuary).