John Griessen III
John Griessen III
December 7, 1924 — August 27, 2019
Born and raised in Sedalia, Missouri, Dece. 7, 1924, John Griessen grew up in town and on the family farm at the end of Griessen road. In Sedalia he captured memories of farm life, boyhood and the struggles of the Great Depression.
At the early age of 17, John enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator but due to his age, transferred to the United States Merchant Marine Academy from whence he graduated as a Cadet Midshipman. John sailed from San Francisco in the Pacific Ocean during WWII.
Post war John Griessen attended Washington University in Saint Louis and in 1949 graduated from the University of Missouri at Rolla with a degree in Chemical Engineering.
John worked as a chemical engineer for Phillips Petroleum in West Texas but was soon drafted by the U.S. Army during the Korean War. John served with a large contingent of young engineers at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama in auxiliary support of Wernher von Braun’s rocket development program.
Once released from the military in the mid-1950s, John Griessen worked in Manhattan Beach, California and then at Reynolds Aluminum in Corpus Christi, Texas where he met Barbara Anne Luft, who became his wife until death parted them 60 years later.
John and Barbara built a family between New York City and the Texas gulf coast. In the early 1960’s John worked for the Foxoboro company in Beaumont, Texas and later in New York City for the Clifford F. Strike company were he traveled the world in search of development sites that resulted in the construction of SEA LAND ports in Italy, and Staten Island.
Eventually returning to Texas in 1972 to work in the petrochemical industry, John settled in Houston where he and his family made many friends. The boys grew up and moved on and John and Barbara semi-retired to Rockport, Texas until ultimately, they moved to Marble Falls, Texas to be closer to the children and grandchildren.
John lived 94 years and was three months away from his 95th birthday…a very good run by any standard, so let us not grieve death, but celebrate a very long life!
John Griessen III is survived by his sons, John Griessen IV and Judy Ronkartz, Steven Griessen and Wendy Griessen; and John’s grandchildren, Jackson Robert Griessen, Megan Lee Griessen and Catherine Louise Griessen. John was preceded in death by wife, Barbara Anne Griessen; brother, Robert Griessen and Ruth Griessen; mother, Buela Griessen; and father, John Griessen II.
John Griessen III died Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2019 at 5:05 a.m. in Floresville, Texas. Although his stay was brief, we extend a sincere thank you to the staff and veteran residents of the Frank M. Tejeda Texas State Veterans Home in Floresville, Texas for their dedication, care and respect for John and all the veterans they care for. Contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to the Frank M. Tejeda Texas State Veterans Home.
The family will be memorializing John in a private celebration of his life at his home in Marble Falls, Texas.
