John Rose

John Rose had learned early on in life that material possessions matter little and that family comes first. The man he grew into reflected this fact, as he was an honest, dependable and bighearted man people were proud to know. John had an incredible sense of humor, many friends and countless hobbies, though his greatest happiness was found in the company of his cherished family. The 1960s marked a shift from the idyllic innocence of the previous decade into a slow burn of social unrest. Protest movements were at the forefront of discussion as more and more U.S. troops headed for Vietnam. Despite the looming problems within society, Americans still had fun going to drive-in theaters and listening to the Beatles who topped the charts. It was into these changing times that Gary L. Rose and his wife, Kathryn (Maginity), of Pontiac, Michigan, welcomed the birth of their second son, John Francis Rose, on November 3, 1962. John spent his early childhood growing up on his familys farm with his older brother, Gary. The family eventually moved to Muskegon, where his father worked as a forklift operator at Neway after leaving the Army Corp of Engineers (he had served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean Conflict), and his mother was a nurses aide at Hackley Hospital. Once John was in school, she became a bus driver at Holton Elementary, where he attended. In addition to raising him and his brother, Johns parents were foster parents to 29 teens when they lived in Newaygo County. It was obvious at a young age that John was a real joker in every sense of the word! He loved to make people laugh with his great sense of humor and entertaining antics. Some of his antics were pretty mischievous too - like the time his father bought him and his brother new bikes, and John hoodwinked his brother out of his. John put his abundant energy to good use too, playing Little League and Pony Leagues Baseball, which his father coached. In high school, he earned the nickname The Tank playing on the school football team; although he was a big boy, he had little fat feet. John loved being outdoors and was an avid hunter and fisherman, and loved to sleep under the stars when camping. School was not really Johns strong point, and used to skip quite often to go fishing. Once, he skipped school with five others and they decided to go canoeing, and of course Johns canoe tipped over, which he always blamed on his best friend, Rob Cobb. Their fun was short-lived, however, because a teacher caught them skipping. John goofed around all the way up to his senior year. In fact, he and his friend, Steve, were out flying Steves plane around the school when they were supposed to be taking exams. And they still had to take the exam when they came back in. Shortly after John graduated in 1981, his family moved to Richmond, Virginia for a time. They moved back to Muskegon in 1989, partly because it was too far to go hunting and fishing. In 1990, John went to work at Randys Auto and Salvage, where he became a highly skilled mechanic and excellent diagnostician. But John not only worked on cars, he also drove Hot Rod cars at the Thunderbird Raceway. On one particularly day at Randys, a young woman named Melinda Mindy Zimonick brought her pickup truck in for service. When John asked her to step out of the truck to put it on the hoist, she hiked her skirt up to get out which definitely left an impression on him. After that, the two kept running into each other at various gatherings and John soon asked her out on a date. As fate would have it, John and Mindy were happily married a little over a year later. Mindy brought more than just her love into Johns life as she had a son of her own named Brenden, whom John loved as his own. Then, in 1994, the couple was blessed with their own son, Joshua. John never grew out of having fun and had all the big boy toys to play with, including a motorcycle, 4-wheeler, jet ski, dirt bike and boat. His nephews loved to hang out with Uncle John because he was loads of fun, especially when he picked them up in the bucket of a front-end loader. Like his father, John enjoyed coaching his son Joshs rocket football team in Ravenna. Goofy, yet fun loving, John knew how to keep a crowds attention, whether it was with one of his practical jokes or his unique way of being able to put chickens to sleep. Although John was notorious for goofing off and creating havoc, he had an incredibly generous heart and would do anything for anybody at a moments notice. After hurricane Katrina, John wanted to help along and started driving trailers down to the New Orleans area. From this, he became a self-employed truck driver. John was also a member of Outpouring Worship Center of Ravenna. For several years, John had been suffering with severe back problems and underwent 11 different surgeries. They say his back was mostly metal after that. Sadly, John died at his home on Sunday, September 7, 2008, at the age of 45. Although he will be dearly missed, his kindness, wonderful sense of humor and deep commitment to family leaves his loved ones with wonderful memories to look to for comfort. John is survived by his wife, Melinda "Mindy"; sons, Joshua Rose & Brenden Zimonick of Muskegon; parents, Gary L. and Kathryn Rose; brother, Gary L. Rose Jr. (Jennifer Sue) Rose of Muskegon; nephews: Gary, Matthew, Aaron, Noah, Daniel; and best friend, Rob (Karen) Cobb of Ravenna. He was preceded in death by his grandparents, John & Ruth Maginity, and Jack & Margaret Rose. Services for John will be held on Wednesday, September 10, at 2:00 p.m. with visitation 1 hour prior to the service at Outpouring Worship Center of Ravenna with Rev. Richard Williams officiating. Memorial contributions may be made to the Outpouring Worship Center Food Pantry. Please visit Johns personal memory page at www.lifestorynet.com where you may share a memory with his family or sign his online guest book. Arrangements made by Clock Life Story Funeral Home Muskegon.