Born on May 6, 1931 in New London, New Hampshire, John was the son of Hubert and Dorothy (Gay) Poole. He lived in several places as a child and recalled happy childhood memories body surfing at the beach in Vero Beach, Florida; helping his Uncle Paul at the Brocklebank in New London; and learning to drive a tractor at the age of nine. He graduated from Ogden (Utah) High School in 1949.
After serving in the Navy during the Korean War, John returned to Utah and met his beloved wife, Louise, on a blind date arranged by their mothers. They were married six months later in Ogden on a very snowy December 26, 1954.
John earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Utah in 1958 and then began work at Bell Telephone Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey. He earned his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from NYU in 1960 and went on to work at several other companies before starting his own company, Plasma Materials Inc., which primarily used plasma torches to process materials for the photocopier industry. John was also an inventor and holds multiple plasma torch patents. After selling PMI to Norton, Inc., John continued to build torches and torch parts in the shop in his basement during his semi-retirement.
John was a man of many diverse talents. He had a beautiful voice. John sang in high school and with the Ogden Symphonic Choir, the Treasure Island Navy Chorus and other smaller groups. He enjoyed music all his life. He drove trucks for the Del Monte cannery in Ogden during summers while in high school and developed a love of fresh cherries and skills at parking trucks and trailers that continued throughout his life. John worked as an auto mechanic at the North Temple Garage in Salt Lake City during college. He worked miracles in car maintenance and repairs, and projects of every type for his family for many, many years. He could give driving directions to anywhere he had ever been and had an unfailing sense of direction. He delighted his daughters when they were children with pancakes of many shapes. During his semi-retirement and retirement, John also spent time building beautiful wooden clocks, researching family genealogy, traveling with his family, serving as family photographer, tending the wood lot and its blueberry bushes, helping others whenever needed, and having weekly lunches with his friend and neighbor, Karl Meier.
John is survived by his wife of 63 years, Louise (Johnson) Poole of Bow, NH; his daughter Jeanine Poole and her husband, Tom Moran, of Concord, NH; his daughter Elaine McKechnie and her husband, David, of Gloucester, MA; and his grandsons, Connor McKechnie, of Jacksonville, FL, and Ryan McKechnie, of Gloucester, MA. He is also survived by his brother, Edward Poole and his wife Joan, of Orange Park, FL; their children, Mark Poole and his wife Cheryl, Brenda Daehn and her husband David, Steve Poole and his wife Anne, and Brad Poole, along with their children and grandchildren, with whom he enjoyed so many family gatherings during his life.
A celebration of John’s life will be held at at the Granite Restaurant & Bar at The Centennial, located on 96 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at https://www.BennettFuneral.com for the Poole family.
For those who wish, the family suggests that memorial donations may be made in John’s name to support the Hospice House of the Concord Regional VNA, 30 Pillsbury Street, Concord, NH 03301 (www.crvna.org) or the Parkinson’s Foundation, 1359 Broadway Suite 1509, New York, NY 10018 (www.pdf.org).
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