My father died way too young. He had been having some heart trouble for a while, but he should not have died when he did. The doctor found some abnormalities in a stress test and sent him home anyway instead of admitting him to the hospital. He did not make it through the night. His untimely death had a grievous impact on everyone who knew him. He was one of those people whose deep love of family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers created powerful bonds of affection. He captivated everyone around him with his penchant for storytelling, friendly teasing, and his uncanny ability to relate to most anyone.
John, or "Bev" as his family called him, was born in 1930 in Richmond, Virginia. During the Depression his father, Ernie, moved to Norfolk to seek employment, leaving his wife and young child to stay with family. Ernie rented a room in a boarding house on 10th Street in Ocean View, finding work as a bookkeeper at Dalton and Bundy Lumber Company. Mother and son later joined him in Norfolk. This was a traumatic move for them as family ties to Richmond were strong. There were frequent letters and trips between Norfolk and Richmond that continued into succeeding generations.
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| Richmond kinfolk. Top: John, Teeny, and Dee. Middle: Zaun family. Bottom: Dee and Bev. |
The Zaun family lived in an apartment on 35th Street where John attended J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School, Blair Junior High School, and graduated from Maury High School in 1948. He was a boy scout (Ernie was the scout leader). He built his own motorbike, which fell apart underneath him in the street, as witnessed with glee by his then future wife and friend from a school window. His close friends were inseparable - Harold Thumm, Bobby Brockington, Streeter Morrisette, and Bobby Twiddy.
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| John "Bev" and friends in Norfolk |
After graduation from high school, John and his friend Bobby Brockington took off for Florida. They worked in Miami for a time as switchboard operators for a hotel (where, as it turns out, they unwittingly arranged "business" appointments for prostitutes). I remember him telling a story about falling asleep at the wheel of his early model automobile and driving into a swamp.
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| with Bobby Brockington in Miami |
For two years, John went to a technical institute, Norfolk division of the College of William and Mary. He got a job with WTAR-TV as a cameraman in the beginning days of television. He was promoted to videotape technician, and eventually became an engineer. He retired as the chief engineer of WTAR and WLTY radio after a 40+ year career with Landmark Communications. He approached his job as he did everything else in life - with optimism, commitment, and passion.
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| TV commercial filmed at our house. |
John loved his work but his preferred occupation was fishing. He always owned some kind of boat - always a very practical boat, no frills - to transport him and a fishing buddy to favorite fishing holes in Back Bay, Suffolk, and Chickahominy. He loved all kinds of seafood, and was known to cut open a clam he found at the beach and eat it right on the spot. His lifelong fishing buddy was school chum Harold Thumm, who later became his coworker and next door neighbor. But John went fishing with whoever would agree to go - neighbor Floyd Edge, nephew Calvin, or one of his beloved coworkers Joe Perkins, George Ramsey, and Jeff Dane. Jeff Dane hosted a long-running local television show on WTAR-TV Channel 3 called "Tacklebox" which sometimes featured their fishing adventures. He also worked on a fishing show hosted by Joe Perkins for many years. When John first asked Virginia Crofford for a date, it went something like this: "If I can't find someone to go fishing with me, would you like to go out on Friday?" She should have known....
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| Caught his limit. |
John's second favorite occupation was tinkering around with anything mechanical or electronic. He had an impressive, well organized (though greasy) collection of tools, hardware, and gadgets. Everything was kept for parts, nothing wasted. He could fix or build most anything, and would attempt any project that caught his fancy. He even took up sewing once just to prove he could. His methods were not always the neatest or the safest, but the end product was usually admirable.
He must have taken some time off of fishing because he married Virginia in April 1952. They bought a tiny little house on Brest Avenue in Norfolk where their two daughters were born. In 1959, his father Ernie died tragically at age 49 of preventable complications from gall bladder surgery. This was devastating to the family and forced John to become responsible for his mother who was naive and inexperienced about financial affairs. John once physically threw an unscrupulous suitor out of her house on Witchduck Road by the scruff of the neck.
He was an actively-engaged, fun, and affectionate father. He was easy to talk to about anything in the world. His daughters had the best school projects, the biggest backyard bonfires, the most wonderful garden vegetables in the summer, and the coolest recreational equipment of anyone around. He made us the very first ever skateboards (from old roller skates), piped stereo music to the back porch (before stereos were portable), built a magnificent ping pong table, installed various high jumps and monkey bars between the trees in the backyard, and created pet enclosures for an ever changing menagerie. The neighborhood kids all wanted to hang out at our house.
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| Ride 'a horsie! |
His grandchildren were the center of his universe. He loved them passionately and without reserve, and they all felt it. It is heartbreaking to think that they could not have had more time with him. The loss cannot be measured.
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| PawPaw in his glory. |
