Of Milwaukee, WI. Born on March 29, 1953 and passed away on November 23, 2019. He won a bout with Cancer, but it left him with an array of medical complications. After a long struggle to overcome mounting maladies, he quietly passed in his sleep.
John served in the U.S. Air Force from 1972 - 1975 and was stationed at Big Spring, Texas (Webb Air Force Base). He graduated from Catholic Memorial High School (1971) and attended University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee for three years (1976 - 1979). John worked at the Wisconsin Division of Transportation, mainly at the downtown DMV office, and retired in 2015.
In 1972, he married Jean (Heinz) Monahan and divorced in 1979. In 1983, he married his beloved “tufted titmouse”, Carol (Lewis) Monahan; happily married for 36 years. He was the loving father of son, Paul Monahan (Fiancée, Katherine Pacyga) of Champlin, MN; daughter, Jennifer Monahan (Beau, Steve Ball) of Tacoma, WA. John was the proud and loving grandfather of Thomas Monahan and Emma Routt.
John loved to provoke and crack jokes with his siblings Jan Xillas (Mike Xillas) of Henrietta, NY; Debora Monahan of Cedar Park, TX; Maripat Monahan (Fiancé, Jeff Dial) of Kenosha, WI and Richard Monahan of Cary, NC.
John is also survived by Aunt Sally and Uncle George Hardy of Milwaukee, WI; cousins Mark Hardy and Rick Korthauer of Aurora, IL; Aunt Ruth Lewis of Cedarburg, WI; cousins Barb and John Arity of Cedarburg, WI; cousins Kathy and David Lewis of Rockton, WI.; sister-in-law Susan (Ron) Dahl and by nieces/ nephews Ryan Seater, Margaret Seater, Kate Gould (Ben Gould), Mollie Xillas, Magdelyn Monahan and Travis James, Josh and Ryan Maly.
He will be remembered fondly by many lifelong friends and family across the U.S. and special friends Jeri and Kenny; Barb Schneider; Jose and Hazel (former supervisors at the DMV).
He was preceded in death by his mother, Carol, and father, Bob Monahan;and his Great Aunt, Lucille Lynch.
John was involved with the Wisconsin Pyrotechnic Art Guild (WPAG) for many years with nigh an incident, except for a storage mishap of one garage. He also was involved in a community group called, Hooligan’s Around the World in 80 Beers and he has a t-shirt to prove it. He was known to have quick wit and knowledge of facts of all sorts, and thus competed often in trivia at Thistle and Shamrock (with no help from the Quiz Master, Cos).
John was well known as being a “professional Irishman” and an eager nickname provider. He was ahead of his time, being a “professional gamer” with many years of playing the Oregon Trail, Age of Empires, and Titanic on his PC. John was quick to tell a story; a twinkle in his eye and his sense of humor was always intact. John collected telescopes and used them often to observe the heavens and all their charms, including the super blood moon eclipse of January 2019. He was an avid baseball fan, first a long-suffering Chicago Cubs fan, until they won the World Series, and then he needed a new underdog team to cheer on– the Milwaukee Brewers. And if you played a board game of either Risk or Monopoly consider yourself lucky if he lost and you won. For all his hilarity and fond memories, we will miss you John.
Visitation will be held on Sunday, December 15, 2019 at Schmidt & Bartelt Funeral Home, 10121 W. North Ave., Wauwatosa from 10 AM until the time of Memorial Service at 12 Noon.
A Celtic Blessing
Deep peace of the running wave to you,
Deep peace of flowing air to you,
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you,
Deep peace of the shining stars to you,
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you.
May the road rise to meet you;
May the wind be always at your back;
May the sunshine warm upon your face;
May the rains fall softly upon your fields.
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
