John Patrick Cleary

The life of John Patrick Cleary is a story of Love and Perseverance. Born June 30, 1925 in Denver, Colorado, the young John Patrick and his younger brother Lawrence were given a strict Catholic upbringing by their parents, John Joseph and Mildred.

His childhood was affected by the Great Depression, a time of hardship that is difficult to fathom by those who did not see it. Severe unemployment, shortages of basic goods and the collapse of the financial system cast a dark shadow over his teenage years.

When John Patrick was 14, Germany attacked Poland, and while Roosevelt struggled to stop the spread of the war, a sense of dread slowly fell upon an entire generation of young Americans. John Patrick was in the middle of his teens, a time in which most children should be frolicking with their friends and blind to the darkness of war, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

Josh Patrick Cleary volunteered for military service and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1943. His aptitude was quickly noticed and he was trained to manage and trouble-shoot the most complex military technology of his generation. He served with honor and distinction on both submarines and destroyer escorts.

Before he was 20, John Patrick fought with his shipmates in horrific combat engagements in several campaigns in the South Pacific. He endured typhoons that capsized ships within his squadron, mastered the most sophisticated technology of his day, earned two Bronze stars for courage in combat, felt the terror of having Kamikaze pilots attack his ship, and the jubilation when the Allies prevailed over fascism.

Shortly after the war, he married Lynn Astrid Ohlson and started a family in Denver. John Patrick earned a Bachelors degree from the University of Denver, and then studied Law in hopes of following his own father, John Joseph, into a career in public service. He struggled to balance his roles as both a father and a law student while working long hours for the Union Pacific Railroad.

During the subsequent decades, he focused on many entrepreneurial endeavors, some of which attained modest success, while others struggled. He entered a second marriage in 1960 to Margaret Katherine Gaudesi and continued adding children to his family.

He had always been a loving Father, but by the late 1990’s, his relationships with his 7 children had blossomed. He also finally found his professional calling as a teacher in a local high school, and he was held in high-esteem by both his peers and his students when he retired at the age of 76. He devoted his remaining years to his family, calling many of his children everyday, preaching a simple message of unconditional love, pride, concern and support.

John Patrick Cleary passed away in Houston Texas on June 4, 2007. He is survived by 7 children and 13 grandchildren.