Biography of John Theisen

After graduation from SPH, I attended University of Dayton for a year, and found I needed to do something other than sit in a classroom for a while. So I joined the US Air Force in January of '62, to work in the electronics field. Before I ever got into electronics school, they said I had an aptitude for languages, and sent me to Syracuse University to study Russian (with a very short detour into Chinese as well). Nine months, six hours a day of classes and another three hours of night study, and I had a certificate saying I could speak, read, and write Russian like a native.

Then off to Texas for some training in Voice Intercept (not spying really), and off I went to Samsun, Turkey on assignment. Right on the Black Sea-not too bad --we caught sea horses with our bare hands--and got to spend every day listening to the Russians do whatever they decided to do to harass us. This lasted about a year and a half, then I came back to the States and worked in 8th Air Force Cartography at Westover AFB, Springfield, Mass. --making and upgrading topography maps.

In September of '65, my outfit got sent to 'Nam--only problem was that you needed 120 days remaining on your tour to go, or you could extend your tour. I refused to extend, and since I had only 117 days left, I got out early and the rest of them went (a good thing).

Also, in September or '65, a gal named Karen Jean Sias and I got married. We came back to Ohio, I tried some more college, and ended up working Construction in the Norwalk area. Got a Carpentry Apprenticeship for four years, and started running some small jobs in the area (foundations for an addition to Fisher Titus, a new sewage plant in Huron, Carpenter foreman at Sawmill Creek when it was originally built, a structural concrete high rise in Sandusky).

About this time, my GI bill was running out, so I went to Bowling Green and got a degree in Liberal Studies. I spent a year teaching Carpentry and Wood Shop at Sandusky High(that stint did not work out well-I taught the kids how to make candlesticks on the lathe, but the ones in the back of the class were turning out billy clubs.)

So back to Construction, this time on some larger projects like a huge sewage plant in Akron, one in New Kensington, Pa., and then in 1978, started on shopping malls. Built 18 of them in varying capacities from General Foreman to Project Manager. These were the most fun jobs ever---fast paced, high profile, lots of politics, etc.) Two of the largest ones were Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth, NJ---$435 million dollar job, and Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, OH --$325 million. Polaris was the last one I did, and then just worked on a lot of Facilities Management stuff until retirement this year.

That was all fun, but the really important stuff in the three kids we have, and six grandkids.

We have three sons. John Jr.(wife Becky, daughter Heather) works in Port Clinton at Vitaplate doing shipping and receiving, Don(wife Denise, daughter Claire, sons D.J and Owen), who is an engineer in Cleveland, and Bill(wife Anita, sons Billy and Wyatt) who is a Chiropractor in Moline, Illinois.

Karen and I have also always had dogs; presently we have Tabbatha, a 100 lb white shepherd, and Sydney, a 60 lb black retriever.

Now, we're retired and in the process of getting moved back to Norwalk. We purchased a home at 156 Woodlawn (next door to Carl Schnellinger), and we have it remodeled and ready to move in.

Couple of points I need to clear up---- I did not put the chewing gum on Frannies' chair in French class--the gum that stuck to her habit and the chair, and stretched out about 15 feet when she got up and went to the board--the same gum that got us a "saliva test" for her to analyze. But I am not going to rat on my friend who did do it. I did put the dead fish on Don Rospert's letter sweater as he slept in the back of my '49 Ford the night of the class play. Man, did he ever stink!! It's been fun reading everyone's bio's. Hope to see some of you at the reunion. .

See more photos of the John Theisen family by clicking here.