John T. Dambrowski

John T. Dambrowski, Jr. passed from this life on March 19, 2016 after a valiant fight with an unrelenting and aggressive lymphoma. His passing was swift, untimely, and utterly devastating to those close to him. He is survived by his wife Margie, sons Adam (Teresa) and Nick (Amanda), grandchildren Braeden, Ashton, Hannah, and Jacob, brother Michael of San Francisco, California, sister Anne of Cambridge, New York, and many close relatives and friends. John was not the type of man to want much more than to be remembered favorably. He likely wouldn’t want this to be written in such detail, but there was so much to this wonderful man that needs to be told.

He was married to his beloved wife Margie for 44 years. If ever there was a shining example of a perfect love, it was theirs. Completely smitten from the first glance, they shared love, marriage, and parenthood that most only dream of. Some of the most classic love stories merely hint at the relationship that John and Margie shared, as there are no words that can accurately define.

John was a man of great integrity, and of quiet reservation. A businessman by degree, he was not one that wanted to be tied to a desk for his career, so he became an electrician by trade. He worked as an electrician for Defense Electronics Supply Center in Kettering, Ohio until its closing, followed by Chrysler and General Motors. He spent the few years thereafter working as a courier for Compunet.

It was not his work that defined him as a person, but his character. John possessed a genuine desire to help others and the modesty to never want the acknowledgement of a good deed done, truthfully acting from his heart. John was a tall man with deep set eyes, dark hair, and often a beard or moustache. A handsome man that may not have always looked approachable, but for those that knew him, was a gentle, kind-hearted man.

John absolutely loved music. A wide array from classical symphonies to the backbone of modern rock and roll. Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, and Crosby, Stills & Nash just begin to hint at his favorites. While he never played an instrument, his boys likely remember him playing a mean air guitar from time to time. His love for music only enhanced his vast knowledge of it, and his uncanny ability to pull various facts about bands, or identify songs with only a few notes - apparently out of thin air - often amazed friends and family alike.

His diverse and seemingly endless breadth of knowledge did not stop with music. A Jeopardy! viewer for many years, he could often have schooled many of the past champions, had he been on the show. The man was an absolute encyclopedia.

John put his family first. Faithfully and without hesitation, he always was there to lend support to those he loved. Remembered by his two sons, Adam and Nick for his honest parenting advice and help with automotive, electrical, and construction projects in their adulthood; and in their childhood, his coaching of soccer, baseball, and basketball, and help with pinewood derby cars in cub scouts. He taught his boys not just by description, but by example as well, really instilling in them that all people deserve a fair chance, that women are to be respected, that men can cook, clean and do the laundry, and that being a gentleman will never go out of style.

Recognizing his focus on others, his sons asked him around his 55th birthday if there was anything that he always wanted to do that he had never had the chance to do. After some thought, he replied that he had always liked hot rods – or street rods, as his style defined – and for the next ten years or so, he built a 1939 Ford Sedan and a 1951 Ford Pickup. The ’39 was a true task, built piece by piece from the ground up. His amazing ability to build things, and his impeccable eye for build quality was obvious not only in these projects, but many other projects around the house as well.

John had an unmistakable charm and a quick wit, always inadvertently becoming the life of any gathering. Always the optimistic one, he never let a rainy day spoil his mood, always seeing the beauty in even the gloomiest of days. It has been noted by his sons that they are, in large part, the men – the fathers and husbands – that they are today because of him. John loved being a grandfather. He often went out of his way to be a part of their lives, babysitting when possible, playing games with them, teaching them fun things, taking them to fairs or the park with Margie, and just generally showing them how to enjoy life. His family is forever grateful that he was so attached to the grandchildren, and that they were able to spend so much time with him.

It has been said that, when you die, it does not mean that you lose to cancer; you beat cancer by how you live, why you live, and in the manner in which you live. John showed many how to live. He will be missed. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to https://www.audubon.org/nature-camps/aullwood-audubon-center-and-farm-day-camp-dayton in his memory.