John William McIntyre

John William McIntyre, know as "Bill" to his friends, passed away peacefully at home Saturday, July 3, 2010 surrounded by his family and friends.
Bill was born March 20, 1930 to L. J. & Eva Mae McIntyre in Erwin, Tennessee.
Bill began his adult life by enlisting in the Army and retiring after 20 busy years. During his time in the Army he participated in the Korean War and endured 3 tours of duty in Vietnam. But his fondest memory from the Army was meeting his little Italian girl 58 years ago that became the love of his life, Severina Louisa, "Mama Louisa". They were married 55 years as of June this year.
John and Louisa began their life together and lived in many places in Europe and the States with settling down in Sparks in the late 60's so Louisa could be close to her sister while waiting for John to retired from the Army in 1969. After retiring from the Army, Bill started his second career, he began working for John Ascuaga's Nugget in their kitchen and worked his way up to Sous Chef, as cooking was one of his greatest pleasures in life. After 10 full years with the Nugget, he did return from time to time to "Help Out". His next endeavor was to continue cooking, but this time he did it in a much smaller kitchen with little patrons. In 1980 Bill and Louisa opened "Mama Louisa's Childcare Center. At that time they had the only 24 hour day care facility and they brought joy to hundreds of children during their 20 years in business. After they closed their facility Bill had a very short retirement returning to cooking for small patrons at his Daughter's daycare "Up and Away", where he continued until June of this year. He just couldn't stay out of the kitchen.
Even though it sounded like all he did was work. He did have many other passions. First and foremost was his garden. He was always so proud of his giant pumpkins, a counter full of squash, tomatoes and peaches and was more than happy to share his plentiful crops. He loved the outdoors where he hunted and fished. He also had to have the newest of toys buying a quad and wave runner as soon as they came on the market. As he played and road, he always remained young at heart and proved it by being at the Lake and riding his wave runner until he was almost 70 with a smile and laugh that made him larger than life.
Bill is survived by his wife of 55 years Severina Louisa "Mama", His son Dennis (Valeri) McIntyre, daughter Loretta (Erv) Johnson and his grandchildren, Miranda, Garrett, Desirae and Andrew.
Services will be held Sat., July 10, 2010 at 10:00 AM at Walton's Funeral Home 1745 Sullivan Lane in Sparks with a viewing on Friday from 4-6 PM.