John C. Mackow, age 76, of 1150 First Avenue, Hellertown PA, died Friday, September 22, 2000 at the Kirkland Village, Bethlehem PA. He was the husband of Ingeborg (Reuter) Mackow.
Born October 23, 1923 in Bethlehem PA, he was the son of the late Charles and Sadie (Bohonko) Mackow. He worked for the Bethlehem Steel Co. for 43 years retiring in 1985 from the #2 Machine Shop. He was a member of Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem PA. He was a veteran of the United States Army, having served during World War II.
He is survived by his Wife; Daughter, Kathryn M. Gold of High Bridge NJ; Sons, Thomas J. Mackow of Green Lane PA and Erich R. Mackow of East Setauket NY; Sisters, Annie Rabel of Hellertown PA, Olga Dziedzina of Bethlehem PA and Stella of Hellertown PA and 6 Grandchildren.
Funeral Services will be held 11:00 a.m. Monday, September 25, 2000 at the Old Chapel of Central Moravian Church, Bethlehem PA. Call 10:00-11:00 a.m. Monday at the Chapel. Arrangements are by the Heintzelman Funeral Home, Inc. 326 Main Street, Hellertown PA. Interment in Union Cemetery of Hellertown PA.
In lieu of flowers memorials can be made to the American Cancer Society, PO Box 90127, Allentown PA 18109 and/or the Visiting Nurses Association of Eastern PA, 1510 Valley Center Parkway South, Bethlehem PA 18017.
Got bored and thought I'd sign...
In Memorium
September 25, 2000
Born to Charles and Ksenia, immigrants from the Ukraine, dad was named for a brother of his mother's who was still in the Old Country. He was the 4th of 5 children: Steve, 10 years older, Annie, Olga, and then Stella arriving a few years after him. Like so many immigrant families, they assimilated into America by working hard. Although they lived in town, Dad spoke often of growing up in an almost farm-like setting in which the family could provide many of their own needs to supplement his father's work at the Bethlehem Steel. We're reminded of that farm-like life in his accounts of Bessie, the cow, in objects we still cherish such as his milk can, a hand plow, and in the traditions of special holidays and the foods that go with them - pierogie, kasha, studenena, and kapusta.
He was one of The Exceptional Generation depicted in Tom Brokaw's recent book, growing up during the depression and building character in the process. His own father's death when he was just 14 added to the developing character and responsibility. Nevertheless, he found time to play the trombone very well and excelled both in basketball (where one can see him listed by his nickname "Buck" on many a High School trophy) and in baseball.
Although he wanted to go to college, at 18, he, as his brother before him, needed to work to help support the family, and so he began a machinist's apprenticeship at the Bethlehem Steel Co. Two months later, after Pearl Harbor, he entered the military and served in Germany as a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army CIC (counter-intelligence corps). leading to many family jokes about his years as a "spy"! In Germany he worked with both a military and German office staff and in this way met his wife of 53 years, Ingeborg Reuter.
His family was always his priority and his children were in his words, his "three million", his wealth! He stopped playing softball on Sundays, his only day off from the Steel, so he could do more with his family. After church and the large Sunday noon dinner, parks and picnics or long, long walks together became a Sunday ritual. On other days the family garden (a 50 X 100 foot lot) kept the family busy and provided a different kind of learning experience--planting and weeding, harvesting, and finally preserving the produce. Those were pre-rototiller days. So, after working his shift at the Steel, he (and we) would dig and rake the garden by hand. Of course, we always "cheerfully" pitched in! None of us can forget (and I'm not sure the neighborhood has yet recovered from) the year of the sunflowers. It seems that he had some pre-Spring vision that year of a massive sunflower display. Well, that vision became reality as row upon row of sunflowers of different varieties ringed this enormous garden plot. The birds were fat in Hellertown that winter!
Dad loved plants (his roses were a special love) and landscaping and worked tirelessly designing and building a patio, trellises for his climbing roses, and a series of stone terraces for his rose garden. He built the terraces the old-fashioned way--by hand--hauling hundreds of stones, a few at a time in the trunk of the old '55 Pontiac, from a stream bed a few miles away and moving tons of soil with pick, shovel, and wheelbarrow until he had completely re-shaped the back yard into the terraced garden he'd envisioned. Later in life, in our second home, he created yet another beautifully private landscaped area.
Family vacations, travel (especially to Europe), and the ocean were important loves of his as they are ours now. He was always great at sandcastles and loved to horseplay with the kids on the beach. Few people know that he did a great whale imitation, moving huge amounts of water at us in the wake he created around him. He loved the timeless, soothing roll of the sea and we'd watch nervously from the beach as he'd swim way out past the breakers to swim parallel to the shore. Later, when his health made these activities impossible, he was happy to sit all day and watch the sea, the sand, and his family enjoying themselves.
In our house books were a treasure and music was ever-present. We remember long hours of Handel's "Messiah", Mozart and Beethoven and of listening to Sir John Gielgud reciting soliloquies from Shakespeare for much of an afternoon. And, on a lighter note, we can't forget his delight in singing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats, but little lambs eat ivy" to our constant confusion. We remember fondly that often, after coming home from a middle or night shift he would stay up with us, talking and working on puzzles (for days on end), and exasperating a wife concerned with his lack of sleep.
Reading and discussing books was an important part of family life that often was integrated into The Family Meeting, a time of problem solving, sharing, and even philosophical debate during which abstract ideas, religion, love, morals, politics, attitudes, and disagreements were open for discussion. They were lessons about how life was and what we thought it could or should be. Votes were even taken on some issues, with Dad, the meeting chairman, of course having the deciding vote.
Dad always reminded us that we were special and that we could accomplish anything to which we set our minds. Indeed, he never tired of reciting the old Edgar Guest classic, "Somebody said that it couldn't be done, but He with a chuckle replied, that maybe it couldn't, but He would be one who wouldn't say so till he tried". Of course, getting there "required A's" in school, and should the A's have been less than 100% the standard comment was always "Good, but what happened to the other points?"
It's from him that we learned that who people really are is important; that not success, but how you achieve it is what matters. Most importantly, we learned that caring for others and giving of yourself--actually doing good--was the most important thing in a person's life. I can still vividly recall being with him as a young boy when we came upon a fight on a city street corner--not so much a fight as a beating being inflicted by a large man. And although he was with a little boy, he grabbed the arm of a passer-by asking for help in subduing the man doing the beating. It was the best object lesson one could have received in always trying to "do the right thing".
After retiring from 43 years at the Bethlehem Steel, he unfortunately went through many years of difficulty with his health. First heart attack, then stroke with a complete re-learning of speech and reading and walking, and finally the cancer, with a few other incidents and problems along the way. More than once, doctors prepared us for his departure, but he overcame the odds against him. Several doctors declared him to be miracle. Through it all he persevered, read his Bible every day, and this strong faith led him to never complain or blame. Determination, acceptance, love of life, will power, guts, faith, caring, trust--so many characteristics that he epitomized through loving example--in a word, he exuded Menschheit.
By surviving these difficulties, he was rewarded by being able to be "the Opa" to his 6 grandchildren. He watched them grow up--the youngest, Jonathan and Brett, now almost 9, Natalie, 10, Derek, 13, Matthew, 19, and Kimberly, 22. Matt and Kim still recall the time when he let them be the leaders on an exploration walk to the park in their small hometown in New Jersey. It was a circuitous route with a supposed "shortcut" through the woods, lasted for hours and thrilled both kids so that they announced upon their return that they had led Opa there and back! While most of the grandchildren missed being read to and seeing his horseplay and quick, sarcastic, wit, they did see a grandfather who loved them dearly and truly believed that his struggle was worth everything when he could participate in family gatherings.
Years ago, Dad had a card given to him by one of his "3 Million" which still sits where he could see it every morning. It said: "Everything I am I owe to my father." We recognize the truth of that statement while knowing that his partner, companion, support, caregiver, wife, and mother of his children played a key role in making him the father and grandfather that he was.
Now, all of us will have to rely on our memories. At some moment, perhaps in the silence by the sea, those memories will come to us clearly like pictures in our own personal album, and we will remember him as a friend, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather. He was and still is some part of everything we are. He gave to all of us by loving example. He was good. Perhaps the words from one of those favorite Shakespearean passages of his say it best:
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix'd in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world "This was a man!"
He will be forever missed.
Mackow <tmackow@fast.net>
Hellertown, PA USA
Thursday, November 02, 2000
He raised a wonderful daughter whom I married. I owe much to him and miss the long talks we had prior to his series of health problems beginning with the stroke in 1986.
Harvey I Gold <Hgold@corus.jnj.com>
High Bridge, NJ USA
Sunday, October 01, 2000
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