John Peter Cencich

Parkinson's disease has claimed the earthly life of John Peter Cencich. However, his heavenly life is just beginning. He put up the good fight against this debilitating disease which disabled him for about nineteen years. Now he is where there are no more tears, no more death nor dying. We have God's word for it. John was born in Detroit, Michigan April 6, 1927 to Nicholas and Julia Cencich. He was raised in White Pine, Michigan located in the upper peninsula. After attending Ontonagon High School he joined the Navy in March of 1945. This was the same month his brother Nick, a Marine was killed on Iwo Jima during the invasion. After boot camp John was soon shipped out heading for Japan; his ship, the USS Gainard, a destroyer escort, went close enough to Iwo Jima for them to see it in the distance. John knew his brother's body was on that island and it caused him great mental anguish. Nick was only 19 when he was killed. John turned 18 in boot camp. While enroute to Japan the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When his ship arrived in Tokyo several days later, he and some of his buddies had the opportunity to ride on the back of a flat bed truck through the ruins of Hiroshima. He never forgot the devastating scene. Could the radiation that was still in the area have anything to do with his Parkinson's disease so many years later? No-one knows. John moved his large family of seven from White Pine, Michigan to Spokane in March 1969. He was employed in the ensuing years by Inland Asphalt, John Deere, Degerstrom Construction and last but not least on the Alaskan Pipeline in the mid-seventies. His family will always have fond memories of fishing, hunting and camping days in Michigan as well as Washington State. John was preceded in death by his son Gene, then 33 years, and his mother Julia Zugel Rickwalder. Surviving him are his wife, Rita of 60 years, and their six children; Teresa (Brian) Riveland, Nicholas, Connie (Jeffrey) Myers, Cynthia Brumfield, Robert (Sandra), and Christopher (Rebecca) Cencich. There are 13 Grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. A Mass of Christian Burial will be on Saturday, September 4th at 11:00 AM at St. John Vianney church, 503 N. Walnut Rd. Spokane Valley, WA 99214. A luncheon reception will be immediately following at the church. The Family suggest any memorial gifts be designated on behalf of John Cencich, for the Parkinson Resource Center of Spokane. P.O. PMB 199 1314 So. Grand Blvd. Suite 2 Spokane, WA 99202-1174