John Kerasotes

John Kerasotes 1922 - 2021
Springfield, IL—John Kerasotes, 98, of Springfield, Illinois, left this life to see the Lord on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at his home at Concordia Village.
John was born at home at 517 E. Miller in Springfield September 22, 1922 to Gus and Flora Kerasotes. He was the youngest of five boys. Both of his parents were born in Greece and immigrated to America, Gus first in the 1880's, whereupon he learned how to speak English and worked hard to support himself, eventually starting a movie theatre business. He then went back to Greece, married Flora and brought her to America. John's first language was Greek, but he learned to speak English when he went to Kindergarten. Four out of the five boys eventually worked in the family business.
When World War II started, he had been going to college at Washington University with a major in pre-med. He joined the ROTC program at the school and was inducted into the Air Force on 7/27/43. He trained in the Air Force Engineers at Riverside, California, operated a movie theater in the 448th Bomb Group, and was a dental assistant and medical assistant. Right after the Battle of the Bulge when the Army was in desperate need of troops, he resigned from the Air Force and joined the Army to help in the troops marching after General George Patton when he swept through European towns in 1945, freeing them from Nazi occupation. John's group followed after Patton and suffered extreme casualties as they cleared out any snipers still left in those towns. After the war ended, he stayed in the infantry, being in the group which was required to stay and serve as guards at the prison camps.
He was released from service January 1, 1946 and came back to Springfield to join the family movie theatre business. He met Eileen Frances Heissinger a few years after that and they married on September 25, 1949. They had two children, Denis and Karen, and enjoyed three grandchildren in the intervening years. They stayed together for 69 years until Eileen preceded him in death on October 10, 2018.
John was an avid pilot and flew out of Capital Airport. He flew for the first time at age 13 at a little airport on Chatham Road. He flew for the last time at age 85. He enjoyed hunting and fishing and was concerned that the World War I servicemen killed in the course of duty from Sangamon County had not received proper recognition. He compiled the names of 112 soldiers and one nurse and had a monument built honoring them. It was assigned to an obscure spot outside Oak Ridge Cemetery from 2003 until 2019 when it was properly placed inside the cemetery in the vicinity of the other war memorials. He was revealed to be the anonymous donor in a rededication ceremony which took place September 25, 2019.
He will be greatly missed by his son, Denis J. Kerasotes (Teri Morenz), his daughter, Karen P. Kerasotes, his grandchildren, Daniel Kerfoot, Sara Kerfoot, and Peter Kerfoot.
The wake will be held Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at Wilson Park funeral home, 200 E. Main Street, Rochester, IL 62563 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. Funeral services will be held at Wilson Park Funeral Home in Rochester, IL at 10:00am on Wednesday, May 19, 2021 with internment at Rochester Cemetery to follow.