Contributions to the tribute of John Peter Goginsky, Sr.

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Thursday, November 7, 2024

My father was a helper his whole life. In his 90’s he was still volunteering twice a week. It didn’t matter whether you needed a ride to work, a wall painted, a garage cleared out, or some odd prop for a school play, he was there. If he was asked, “do you have any 4” screws with flat heads or a heavy lamp base; or can you get this dead groundhog off of my driveway; or can you help me on Tuesday?” The answer would be yes. When I was growing up, he was always pulling over and changing tires for strangers, or jumpstarting cars in parking lots. With the number of times he stopped his day to tinker with someone’s car, the dry cleaners probably thought “why does this guy wear a suit to work on cars?” He was also a pack rat, raised in the scrap metal collecting time of WWII, he never forgot ration books, victory gardens, and fixing and patching everything. He would come help me to clean up my art classroom at the end of the year. And one of my favorite things was to ask him, “should I save this?” While holding up some bedraggled random scrap of this or that. Didn’t matter if he could even see what I was holding, he’d say “save it, you never know when you might need it.” He once had enough old, old license plates in his garage that I could do a crayon rubbing to spell out “Poetic License” for the cover of a school project. He taught me important things like: It’s good to make things, even if or maybe especially if, it doesn’t look like what other people have. That it’s ok to put things together in a new way, even if it’s because you lost the directions. If you don’t have the right tool, a hammer will probably do. If something goes awry, the moulding will cover it. But most of all, he taught that the central purpose we had as people, was to make difference. In whatever way possible. Not by saying we should, but by showing us over and over that he would. If you were someone he helped, know it was his greatest pleasure to do so. The world has lost a helper. So when you can, help someone. It might take all of us to fill in the gap.

B

Beth Cowfer posted a condolence

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Aunt Pat, Daria, Alecia, Johnny, & Tricia. So sorry to hear of Uncle John's passing. The boys were saying how they remember what a jokester he was. (Todd really thought he was in the Mafia). Although, he is not here in body, his memories will forever be in your heart. Love & thoughts for you all. Beth, Jake, Todd, Tyler, Brianne, Andi & Moose.

J

The family of John Peter Goginsky, Sr. uploaded a photo

Thursday, October 31, 2024

John Peter Goginsky, Sr.

1931 - 2024

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