John Robert Compo

Anheuser-Busch and Meier brand ice cream sandwiches both lost a loyal customer on Sept. 2, 2017, as John Compo lost a battle with Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia. John passed peacefully, surrounded by family, not long after watching the end of the Notre Dame Football season opener (which may have been the first ND game he did not exit immediately after the third quarter!)

In life, John loved many things: a perfectly medium-rare New York Strip steak with a dry martini; being on, in, and around Clear Lake, Indiana; consistently mispronouncing the names of songs, businesses, and most of his kids’ friends’ names; gazing at stars and planets through his telescope; bird-watching; any sort of travel; and building roaring campfires.

John was unable to watch National Lampoon’s Vacation or Christmas Vacation movies without laughing so hard and so long that no one else in the room could hear the movie.

Throughout John’s life, he became temporarily obsessed with one passion or another. He briefly went through a wind-surfing phase, a family genealogy phase, a 70’s jogging phase, a Luciano Pavarotti phase, a “dirt bike” motorcycle phase, and a very unfortunate moustache phase.

John was born Aug. 1, 1944 to the late Robert “Bob” and Marcella “Marcie” (Steinberger) Compo in Defiance Ohio, where he attended St. John Primary School then Defiance High School (class of 1962). He received a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Dayton in 1966. Although his illegible cursive handwriting suggests he may have had a lost career as a physician, his printed handwriting always belied his logical, gear-headed, meticulous, mechanical nature; to this day, a sample of his handwriting could be used as a standard of excellence in any drafting/mechanical drawing textbook.

After graduation, John stayed on at Dayton to immediately pursue an MBA; however, he put his program on hold halfway through to work with his father at Compo Corporation in Defiance and concurrently enlisted in the Ohio National Guard. Although he quickly worked his way up to NCO of an infantry unit, which later converted to an MP unit, his favorite ‘Guard stories involved blowing up [stuff] on a mortar range, and goofing around with his friends while on KP duty.

During this time, John quickly realized two things: how much he enjoyed working at Compo Corporation and how much he loved his girlfriend, Sue Fitzenrider, from Bryan, Ohio. He ended up happily spending the rest of his life with both.

John ultimately served as President and CEO of Compo Corporation, Defiance, Ohio, which manufactured mufflers for the replacement auto industry. At its peak, the company employed 150 people over three shifts. John retired in 2000 and after a brief stint in industrial storage, sold the property to B&B Molded Products. In his prime, John was a member of various local and regional civic, social, and philanthropic organizations, including Defiance Rotary (Harris Fellow), Elks Club, St. Mary Church, United Way, Notre Dame Sorin Society, Kettenring Country Club, and Clear Lake Yacht Club. Professionally, he was a member of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers and the Northwest Ohio Industry Council and was on the Board of Directors of Rurban Financial Corp and SEMCO Corporation (Roanoke Rapids, NC). In the mid-1990’s he was appointed by then Ohio Governor Voinovich to travel to Mexico City as part of a trade council.

“Johnny” Compo and “Susie” Fitzenrider were married in 1968 at St. Paul Chapel, in Clear Lake, Indiana after a 5-year courtship that began at Clear Lake and continued with Sue and John burning up the phone lines and the roads between Kent State and the University of Dayton / Defiance. During summers, the hours flew by while the two of them idled around Clear Lake, talking and laughing in John’s wooden Century Resorter boat.

John was preceded in death by his sisters Camille Jane of Mattoon, Illinois, and Mary (Compo) Conway of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He is survived by his brother Robert (“Bob”) Compo and nephew Shawn Compo, both of Anaheim, California, and nephew Dan Conway and partner Pam of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

John’s two children, Betsy (Larry) Finn, Cincinnati, Ohio; Jeff (Anne) Compo, Huntington, Vermont, will always remember his euphemisms-of-unknown-origins; goofy jokes and poems; and his ability [compulsion] to immediately call out a picture frame or sticker that was placed even the tiniest bit crooked. Countless other memories include being awakened at 4 a.m. and led down to the beach to watch the Perseid meteor shower at its exact peak, camping trips and beach vacations, and tramping out into snowy woods—Christmas Vacation style—to cut down gargantuan Christmas trees.

John’s four grandchildren (Aidan, 10, and Sarah, 8, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Kate, 9, and Ella, 9, of Huntington, Vermont) all called him “Papa.” They will fondly remember Clear Lake boat rides, watching Notre Dame games, his silly sayings and stories, and being dragged outside to enjoy a beautiful sunset with him.

Calling hours will be held from 5-8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 8, 2017 at Beams Funeral Home in Fremont, Indiana, with a prayer service to be held at 8 p.m.

A celebration of life Mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, at St. Paul Catholic Chapel, 8780 E 700 N, Clear Lake, Fremont, Indiana, with a reception immediately following at the Clear Lake Yacht Club.

Suggested memorials are to the Clear Lake Township Land Conservancy, 111 Gecowets Drive, Fremont, Indiana, 46737 (https://clearlakeconservancy.org/donate), or to the Fort Wayne Office of the Greater Indiana Chapter of Alzheimer’s Association, 6324 Constitution Drive, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46804 (http://www.alz.org/indiana/in_my_community_contact.asp)