Joseph A. Rietschlin

Baptized, First Communion and Confirmation at Sacred Heart RC Church – Bethlehem, Ohio

Farm boy and Altar Server… attended:

Sacred Heart Grade School, Shelby, OH,… Shelby High School, Shelby, OH,… University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana (BS- Math),… St. John’s University, Jamaica NY (MA- Math),… Adelphi University, NY

May 4, 1963 – married Maryann L. Christopher, and became a St. Pius X Parishioner, Plainview, NY.

Jan 9, 1965 – daughter, Alisa, born - later married to Steven Kahane (May 17, 1987)

June 16, 1989- first grandchild, Brian Kahane

February 11, 1991 – second grandchild, Melissa Kahane

February 8, 1993 – third grandchild, Andrew Kahane

Leadership:

Grumman: F-14A Group Leader

St. Pius X Catechist, CCD Board President, Men’s Club President

Long Island Soccer Football Club – Officer, President, Vice President, Trustee, Joseph Rietschlin Cup in his honor

Family of Origin:

Mother: Nellie G. Mitten Father: Louis H. Rietschlin

Mother in law: Lucy M. Vocale Father in law: John J. Christopher

Sisters: Rosemary Kanney Ruth Kehres

Brothers: Robert Mark

Music interests: all country ---- family sing alongs ---- guitar --- banjo ---- wrote songs

Poetry: Thanatopsis– WC Bryant

Last Leaf – JC Whitter

Whose Woods These Are – Robert Frost

The Raven- Edgar Allen Poe

Quotes/ Sayings: Know Jesus, Know Peace --- No Jesus, No Peace

Every event in every man’s life plants a seed in his soul!

Pray for me, as I will pray for thee, that we may merrily meet in heaven!

The best is cheapest! (Ben Franklin)

What he did when he wasn’t working or volunteering time…

Rides on his shoulders through Bethpage State Park with children and grandchildren

Gave random strangers who were sruck gallons of gas or rides home or dinner – whatever they needed.

Saved bunnies (and other animals that needed help)

Car trips across country/ to Ohio/ to Maine

Music – lots of music- in the car, in the home, in the yard – music was everywhere that he was!!

Repairs at Church- the unrecognized repair staff…

Carpentry- all made in the garage – from pencil boxes to wooden hammers

Making toys- a ‘doozie’ – a jumper – a ladder to walk across, bowling balls to walk on, wire reels to balance on, a swing in the den, a rope in the den to do gymnastics on, a time machine made of marbles, --- if you could dream it, he would build it!

Soccer in the garage with the grandkids

Sledding down the back hill

As I began to look back upon all the unforgettable memories my grandpa has given me, I was completely reassured that he was the most loving, inspirational, caring, funny, amazing grandpa I could have ever asked for. Not many people in this world have had such an extraordinary impact on my life as he has, but I didn’t think I would ever really get to express to him what he truly meant to me as time was fading away and his Alzheimer’s grew worse. I have never been good at verbalizing my emotions to those who mean the most to me, but inside my biggest fear was that he would never know how I really felt about him. My mind was honestly brought to peace within the last few days when my mom showed me a letter I wrote to my grandpa in November of 2007 when I was sixteen years old. I don’t think I could ever express my feelings towards my grandpa any better than I did in that letter, so I figured I would just illustrate what came from my heart five years ago.

“Soccer: The one thing that I have put all of my heart and soul into, the only thing that has driven me to push myself to be the best that I can be. It has brought many years of joy and happiness to my life, and it has shown me the meaning of friendship, teamwork, competition, defeat, and success. I have yet to find something greater that brings out this passion and fire in my soul. These feelings I have shown; these feelings my family and friends have recognized. But there’s been something heavy on my mind for months now. There’s something I’ve been longing to reveal.

My struggles and setbacks in the last few months have taken away this love in my life: soccer. From this loss, I have realized many things. Soccer was something I grew up with. The passion it has brought me, the amazing memories it has stored in my mind, it’s all because of him. He had me with a soccer ball at my feet from the moment I could walk. His love for the game somehow grew into my veins. I feel that without him, my love for the game would never have grown to what it has become. Our endless hours in his backyard or on the field are what have inspired me and driven me greatly. I had others to motivate and help me: family, friends, coaches, teammates; yet, somehow nothing could surpass the gratefulness I have for this man whom allowed me to experience the passion for the game that he so wholeheartedly loved too.

I want to tell him these feelings I have. I want to let him know that I feel this way. But how can I? How do I tell him that I feel that I owe all the memories to him or that he is the reason for the joy that I have been fortunate enough to have ever experienced? My love for him is so great; it’s incredible. But these words aren’t even enough. I want to tell him so he knows all this in his heart, but words will never be able to explain these hidden thoughts in my mind. These thoughts don’t even come close to skimming the surface of the full feelings I have, and I hope he can somehow fully comprehend that I feel like I truly owe it all to him and that I am so honestly grateful to have him in my life. He is the reason that I have found the meaning of passion and love, and even though soccer is, unfortunately, no longer a part of my life, my love for it will always remain in my heart. It’s all because of this great man. It’s all because of him. I owe it all to him. Grandpa, I owe it all to you. I love you.”

To you, Pop: Being that you were the only grandpa I had in my life, Poppy, you had a pretty big role to fill, but I’d say you did a damn good job! Thank you for helping sculpt me into the person I am today and supporting me in my journey of life. You will always be a huge part of my heart. I love you more than words can ever say! Until we meet again someday… He was ‘Joe Easy.’

He always had things to do, places to go people to see and checks to write.

He’d call you first thing in the morning and say ‘you’re looking beautiful today,’ and that was by telephone not video chat. Everyone was beautiful to him, and he let everyone know it.

He was always helping someone. Whether it was donating time to fix pews in church or giving a can full of gas to the person stranded on the road, or waiting for Augie to give him his weekly allowance, he was always ready to help.

He was the guy who helped teach the kids to walk by walking behind them on his knees and holding their hands. Of course they had a soccer ball in front of them- why not teach two skills at once?

And then as they got older, he was the guy who played endless hours of soccer and baseball in the yard. Poppy always had time to play.

He could fix anything – and did. As a child, I never knew there were people you hired to fix something or build something- dad just did it.

Truth be told, most of his projects were over done. He couldn’t build an 8x10 shed in our yard. He built a 15x15 shed – which he later had to ‘shrink’ because it was oversized for town code. He couldn’t buy me a pencil box, he made me a pencil box from wood, covered it in leather and even included a home made ruler and t-square. Of course he forgot the fact that a 14” long pencil box wouldn’t fit in my desk, but no one could fault what he made.

Dad made shelves out of plexiglass, re-caned chairs, upholstered couches, sewed his clothes when they needed repair, even fixed his car when it broke down (of course it only ran on 4 cylinders instead of 8 when he was done, but it did run)… he did it all.

When we needed shelves built or something painted at the station, dad was there. When we wanted to do work on our house, dad was there. And I’m sure many of you can tell stories of something dad helped you with. He was always there for whoever asked for help.

And, if dad wasn’t helping someone or fixing something, he was singing. Always with a guitar in his hands, he would sing and play anywhere. And always end with something from ‘Carmin.’

It’s going to take a long time to come to the full realization that he’s not going to be here to fix anything anymore or to throw out a compliment. More than anything, I will miss the man that gave so much of his heart to everyone around him and always had a smile on his face and a song in his heart.