John William McGrath III, Funeral Expenses

Hi, my name is Ruth, actually Marian Ruth Janoe Haas, maiden name McGrath.

We have lived in Mesa AZ since 1968.

My Father John William McGrath III recently passed away at 84 years of age.

He will be greatly missed by not only his family but many friends young and old. If you met him he was immediately your friend.

He was kind, generous and would give you anything he had.

He had a rough beginning in life as his mother passed away when he was 7 in Toledo Ohio. At 8 yrs old the Catholic church took he and his younger brother James from his father and put them in an Orphanage. At 16 he was released to go home. Four months later his father passed away from a car accident.

My father rented a room and continued to go to high school and worked to support himself after school. He was a star quarterback and a handsome young man.

He left school to join the Marines and was then stationed in Florida where he met my Beautiful mother Janet Hazel McGlothlin. Two weeks later they were married at age 18. They were very much in love and had a Beautiful marriage producing three children.

Dad became a meat cutter and worked for WinnDixie for several years.

Then he applied for a job at the City of Jacksonville and worked there the next few.

After moving to Mesa AZ he became a Union Carpenter. Commercial buildings were going up in Phoenix, some many stories high.

Dad saved 5 different mens lives by being very quick minded on the job site. I heard those stories many times.

He went to Alaska and worked on the pipeline in the 70's. That was an adventure and the money was great but Dad decided that there is no place like home with his wife and children.

The kids in the neighborhood loved our parents. Dad would fix motorcycles and bicycles for them. If it was a spendy job he would tell them just to bring him a 2 liter bottle of soda for payment.

Dad loved helping anyone he could. He would pickup hitchhikers and sometimes drive them to their destination.

He was a wonderful father. He encouraged us in our dreams and told us we could do or be anything we desired in our lives. Whatever we chose to do he was right there with us. Riding horses, motorcycles, taking Karate. He even coached little league for my brothers.

Then in his later life he began to write poetry. He always had, but he found the time and encouragement to really pour his heart into it. He could sit down and write a hundred long poems in one day. He had two favorite sites he wrote his poems on. One was the Starlite Cafe. So began his pen name "Ompapa" John William McGrath lll.

His poetry was Beautiful, sometimes very deep, sometimes funny, sometimes romantic or historical. I believe he wrote approximately 20,000+ poems. Many waitresses have a poem he wrote just for them along with an always generous tip.

My Father was a good, kind and generous man not only in a physical sense. He also wanted to share his wisdom and knowledge to help people where they were at. To offer a helping hand when he saw someone down by not only buying them groceries or a meal but giving them a word of encouragement.

Losing my Mother, his wife of close to 50 years was devastating to him. It tore his heart as much and more than losing his own Mother. It became harder for him to write his poetry for a while. Finally was able to write again. He so wanted some of it to be published. He already had quite a following on the web pages. A collage Professor asked Dads permission to use his Poetry for his classes. People from many countries contacted him because of the Beauty and Symmetry of his poems.

Hopefully we can fulfill his dream and get some of his work published. He told us when he passed please be sure to do so!

It has been hard for me to finish this Go Fund Me request. If you feel in your heart that you would like to donate to my Father's funeral expenses and you have the means to do so we would very much appreciate it. If there is extra money we will apply it to publishing his Poetry works.

The viewing and services will be held Dec 3rd 2021 at Mountain View Funeral Home and Cemetery in Mesa AZ. There will be a 10am Viewing 11am Services. He will be buried there next to the love of his life, our Mother Janet McGrath.

I ask for God's Blessing on everyone who has taken the time to read this!

Thank you

Ruth Janoe Haas