John Mitchell Schoening

John's death was unexpected and his family is heart

broken and wish they had more time to spend with him.

John was born on January 7th, 1949 in Cody, Wyoming to Bob and Lena Schoening. John was

the second oldest out of 4 boys, Gary, Ken, and Keith. Their family moved up to Seward, Alaska

when the boys were still young where the whole family fell in love with the area.

John bravely served his country and fought in the Vietnam war. When John returned to Seward

he joined the force for a short time as a police officer. John moved to Ketchikan, AK and met the

love of his life, Judy and they married shortly after on December 10, 1979. They were happily

married for 43 years, until John's passing.

John was a proud father to Desiree, Marlena, Travis, and Melinda. He was a wonderful father

who would play outside with his kids, play games, and watch cartoons together every Saturday

morning. He would tell his kids stories about his life before bed. Later when a movie called Big

Fish came out, it reminded Melinda so much of her father, he did a lot of wonderful and

interesting things in his life and met a lot of people and he was a wonderful storyteller. John was

especially happy when his daughter Desiree moved up to Ketchikan from Wyoming, and was

happy to have all of his children in one place.

John worked hard to support his family throughout his life, even working 3 jobs at one point.

John and his family joined the Nazarene church in Ketchikan and made many friends there, and

he truly enjoyed his time there. John's other favorite pastime was taking the boat out to go

fishing, even though he did have a bit of bad luck where he couldn't catch any fish if Melinda or

Judy were with him because they would catch them all, Judy even caught him one time with a

treble hook on the top of his hand when she was on a roll, where he had to have it surgically

removed. This is something his family would laugh about often and eventually he found the

humor in it as well.

In 2000 John and his family left Ketchikan and moved down to Washington state to help take

care of Judy's parents. A few years later John was sadly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at

the young age of 53. John did not let it deter him, though and his doctors were always amazed

and impressed at how well he did, especially these past 5 years. John would spend his days

with his family, playing with his grandkids, and riding his bike.

John's only real regret in life was not seeing all of his children, grandchildren, and brothers

more. John is survived by his wife Judy, children, Desiree, Marlena, Travis and Melinda, his

grandchildren Kirsten, Ally, Maggie, Kostas, Kiera, Kylee, and Madison, and his brothers Ken

and Keith.

John's family's hearts are heavy, but find comfort knowing he is with our heavenly father and

was met on the other side by his parents Bob and Lena, and his older brother Gary, and also his

dog Brewster. John has always been an animal lover and had rescued many cats and dogs

when he was young and we hope they were all there to meet him before going across the

rainbow bridge.