John McGrath Obituary

Dear Lucille,
If there is anything you need or want or if you just want to talk pls call me. I am in the phone book. Brian lives in Lockport in Neuberry Ridge... he has 3 children, the oldest starts high school next year! They are all active at St. Joe's and his wife teaches kindergarten there. Please call or send an email. Thank your daughter for her email. You know my thoughts and prayers will be with you. You will survive!!!

Deepest sympathy to the McGrath family. May you always cherish warm memories during the holiday.

To the McGrath Family:
I've been a lifelong friend of the Hostert family and have gotten to know Joey over the years since he and Delores have been together. I only ever met your husband/ father at their wedding but I remember thinking what a nice man that he was. You have raised a wonderful son in Joey and that is a true reflection of his father and mother. My sympathies to all of you, as unfortunately, I know exactly what you are going through. May God Bless all of you and know that John has moved on to a place free of pain and suffering. Take care of each other.

We love you Dad. We would like to share just a handful of the memories we will always cherish about our father. Just paste this URL into your web browser area and may you find comfort as we have just knowing how much our parents have loved us.

http://www.photodex.com/sharing/viewshow.html?fl=2728404&alb=0

What can possibly be said about my father that has not already been said? Volumes. My father was a man of unique strength, mentally and physically. There are many phrases or wisdoms that my father conveyed to me over the years. Many of them while we worked together on ever continuous projects around the house. Two of them always stood out from the rest. The first was "Use your brains over braun. Brains will be around a lot longer than your braun." I try to live out this philosophy on a day to day level, always trying to be smarter than the other guy. People may see me as extroverted, always on the outside looking in. Actually I study what other people do, and devise my own theories and deductions to help me stay one step ahead. This was something my father taught me to do. It helps me from making too many mistakes, and the mistakes I do make I learn from. I won't make them twice. The other lesson he taught me was about work. He always said, "If you wake up in the morning not wanting to go to work, you got the wrong job. Find a job you like and you never have to work again the rest of your life." I have found that job and he was right, just as he found it.
There are many other wisdoms my father shared, although I won't print them here. I'll keep those for private discussions.
My father always had a positive outlook on things, "No problems, only solutions." No matter what adversity came to be, he always said, "all this, too, shall pass." Showing me that even as dark as things may get, it will always get better. You have to fight it out. He is the man I admire most in life. Everything he did, every sacrifice, he did it for us and mom.
He love for mom was unconditional. I have yet to see a couple with a love so deep, so profound, so true as my mom and dad. The only sadness he brought to my mother was in his passing.
Towards the end I paid him a visit. It was during a crucial decision making moment before his second brain operation. He lay in the hospital bed, feisty and teasing the nurses. I shook his hand and told him, "Dad, you got to be 76 years old by making the right decision. I don't think you're making a wrong one now either." He went in for the operation and it was successful. It was successful because it got him what he wanted. Just a few more months to be with my mom. A few more months, I'm sure, meant a lifetime to him.
I had a beautiful relationship with my dad and I cannot think of any bad times with him. I will miss him terribly and I know that a day will not pass by without me thinking of him. Even now, in my darkest hour, I hear his voice saying, "All this, too, shall pass."

Here's to you, dad. I love you.
You were and always will be the best.

Dearest Lucille and family-My deepest sympathies for the loss of John. I only knew him through the stories and sparkle in the eye of Joey and Dolores. I'm originally from Chicago and we work together at Classic Wines. I've been to their home and we've shared some great stories and I've seen the pictures. I'm not sure if it's Louis Armstrong or not, but I know John McGrath is in the shot looking handsome as ever in his sailor suit. Joey and Dolores have it prominently displayed front and center in their living room. These special times will continue and he lives in the heart and memories of those special ones around him. You are all in my thoughts and prayers.

While I never actually met John, to be the father responsible for the upbringing and guidance given to JoAnne I can only imagine how wonderful a person he was, because JoAnne is such a warm and wonderful colleague and friend.

To JoAnne and her family, my heartfelt condolences for your loss. Take the time to reflect on a lifetime of wonderful memories - that's what will help in making it through these tough times.

Our deepest sympathies for your loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

The Biagi Family

I am so sorry for your loss although I did not know Mr.
Mcgrath. Please know that you and your family are in my thoughts and prayers.
Sincerly
Davud Gonzalez & Family

I'm sorry to say that I did not have the pleasure to get to know Mr. McGrath has many of you had. As I see the way he and mom McGrath have raised there son's Joey and John and there wittiness, kindness and friendship I have with them I know in my heart Mr. McGrath was a kind and witty gentleman himself.

If there is anything any of you need, please do not hesitate to call me.

My thoughts and prayers are with you in your time of grief. May your memories bring you comfort.

I remember the first time I met my father in-law John. I was a bit apprehensive in that I didn't quite know what to expect. So many times when a person meets the father of the woman they marry they are initially greeted with a forced smile, an overly firm handshake and a look in their eyes that says hurt her and you'll regret it. This was not the case with Mr. John. When I shook the hand of that steely eyed man of 71 years who stood about 5 feet nine inches, I knew immediately that he wore no forced smiles. As I recall, he did not smile at all during our first visit and his eyes were like looking into the eyes of a proud king who I just stole the crown jewel from. It was at that very moment he stood 7 feet tall and his words were very clear as he never broke his gaze. He told me that night, "my family is everything to me and I am an old man, jailtime at my age means nothing, what's a life sentence in prison for me compared to what I would do to anyone who would hurt the family I love." Whoa, no hidden meaning there! During our ride home I told my wife that her father was a man who earned the right to be respected. He said what was in his heart and on his mind all the years I knew him and I respected him a great deal.

Several months before he died, upon bringing some groceries over to my wife's parents house I got into some playful banter with JoAnne's mother, "Mum" as I affectionately like to call her about refusing to take her money for the groceries bought. After about 5 minutes Mum looked over across the dining room table at John who had just come home from his second brain tumor surgery and chemo. He was filled with tubes, pale as a ghost and wearing a catheter. His walker served to hold him up. She said to him "Dad will you lay down the law?" Mr. John peered up, looked me directly in the eyes and said with the voice of a lion, "Don't make me get up. Take the damn money." To say the very least I took the money, but I also took away the knowledge that this man was a giant and had earned my respect and love forever. I truly loved John McGrath and I will miss his wisdom, his strength and his love for family.

I'm fortunate enough to know the McGrath Family through my cherished relationship with their daughter JoAnne over the past 12 years. John McGrath was an exceptional man... to him his family came first. He passed on to his family the gift of a great sense of humor and laughter. I remember visiting them one summer and tears running down my face from the laughter at the stories John and JoAnne shared with me. They've always made me feel a part of the family and I know how difficult this time is for all of the McGraths. My heart, love, thoughts and prayers are with all of you, Love, Kathy and Phoebe Skaleski

A Life Well Spent - This was John Joseph Mcgrath's eulogy on 11/26/06 delivered by his daughter JoAnne Saghir at St. Dennis Church:
The Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith once wrote, “Life is hardly more than a fraction of a second, such little time to prepare oneself for eternity!” Today it is with great pride and devoted love that I speak before all of you about John Joseph McGrath and the wonderful fraction of a second he shared with all of us.

In retrospect John McGrath kept his beliefs simple and straightforward. He had but 5 fundamentals that he deemed worthy of loving, they were God, his country, his vocation his family and his wife. To each he dedicated and devoted his time here with a perspective and a passion unique yet obvious to those of us who knew him well.

John McGrath had a profound love for God. John’s love for God was manifested everyday through his actions, in the way he lived his life, raised his children and loved his wife. His love for God was a private yet strong love which he practiced and kept very much to himself.

John McGrath’s love of country was evident throughout his life. The freedoms and rights given to us here in America were, in his eyes worth protecting, serving and dying for. He enlisted in the Navy as a sea bee in 1949 and spent the next 4 years traveling the world building hospitals, bunkers, barracks and seaports. He sailed around the world to places like France, England, Cuba and Morocco. His journeys and adventures were shared with us continuously. His vast travels contributed to his wisdom and worldly perspective. When he returned home from the military he never again crossed any oceans for he firmly believed that there was so much beauty here that he would make it a point to see as much as he could of this great country before he died. He passed on this love of country to all of us.

John McGrath was a structural ironworker, a vocation he prized for over 40 years. It was Confucius who said “Find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” Well John found that job and he loved every minute he spent doing it. When I look to the magnificent Chicago skyline, I see my father’s accomplishments scattered along the horizon. The Associates, now Jefferson Smurfit building , the Prudential, the Chrysler, the Standard Oil, now Aon Center and the Sear’s Tower are just a few of the many he walked upon and welded when they where only skeletons of steel. The mere image of him 90 stories up walking gracefully across a 6 ton steel I-beam the width of a man’s shoe with 20 mile winds in good weather or bad only reinforces the outstanding portrait of this giant. He used to tell us that up on the steel there was a silence like no other and looking down was like seeing what God might see. He’d also tell us only eagles dared to fly that high, well John McGrath was certainly that.

John McGrath loved his family. He deemed his family to be the most priceless treasure he had. As a father he did so much more than provide for us, Dad continually gave us two things valued above all others, his time and his love. Our childhood memories are packed full of family activities such as camping trips, nature hikes, sledding outings, drive-in movies, weekend chores, holiday traditions and lots of laughter. Dad believed in quality family time, he and my mother reinforced this belief everyday. No matter how busy or hectic schedules became we always ALWAYS sat down together as a family and ate dinner. Grace was said and then ideas and stories of the day were shared. I firmly believe we learned more valuable things about life being a participant at that dinner table than we ever could in a classroom. As for insight or advise, all you had to do was ask or just raise a subject, Dad’s wisdom, philosophy and opinion were forthright and clear, his logic was very black and white and he believed it was better that you hear the ugly truth, if so it be told, than any pretty lies. A better father no one could ask for. He loved us very much and gave us more than he’ll ever know, but the greatest gift he gave us by far was his unyielding affection and love for our mother, his wife and soul mate Lucille. To this day there is a little wooden plaque which sits upon his dresser, it has been there as long as I can remember and it reads, “The greatest gift a father can give his children is to love their mother.” The reality that lies behind this message is so very clear. By so loving her, he with this very act gives us, his children, security, unity and comfort while teaching us daily how to love and respect as well as how to be loved and respected. This lesson is his legacy.

This brings me to John McGrath’s “Al-Di-La”, our mother, Lucille McGrath. I know many of you are probably hearing this expression “Al-Di-La” for the very first time, but it is an expression of love we have heard all our lives. Translated from Italian Al-Di-La means “beyond”, affectionately put when someone calls another their “Al-Di-La” it means that they are their everything, their “beyond,” and that the love they have transcends all physical and emotional understanding as we know it. How blessed is the child who can behold such a love between their parents. How beautiful life seems now looking back fondly at the warmth and love these two shared. How we will miss you Dad, how we will miss watching you love our mother.

-JoAnne McGrath Saghir

At this time of sorrow
may these truths sustain you..
...your loved one will always be
as close as a memory
and the God of all comfort
is always as close as a prayer

John and Family,
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
My deepest sympathies to your family.

Dear Lucille and family,
I was deeply saddened to hear of your great loss. I am so sorry that I was not able to attend the services, please accept my profound condolences and sincere sympathy.

John and Family,

In this time of loss and sadness, may your heart be filled with wonderful memories of love. Your family is in our thoughts and prayers.

Lucy and Family:
Please accept our sincere sympathy

carol and bill stone

we are sorry for your lose and will not be able to make it because of my husbands chemo and we send all our prayers and condolince to you

JoAnne and family:

Please accept my most sincere condolences on the passing of your Father. Please know that although I will not be able to attend the scheduled services, you all are in my thoughts and prayers. I wish you healing and closure over time.