Never Forget John Book

We miss our brother and think about him all the time.
We wanted to celebrate his life again as he turns

62 this year. All the stories and comments are true,
and we needed to put them down while all of our

memories are still there.

We love you John.

Brian, Nan, Neil and Ralph

“I AM HERE FOR A GOOD TIME...
NOT A LONG TIME.”

The Early Years

We cannot forget John and Brian
dancing in the Woodward living room
to Mom & Dad’s record of the Ray
Conniff Singers “Somebody Loves Me.”
It was hilarious.

He broke down how to get a double/double every
basketball game in High School by quarters. So focused!

In Junior High summer baseball, Malley’s
Candies was the sponsor. The team
got a free shake after every win.
John and Brian’s team won the league
both years. Always enjoyed that
chocolate shake and pretzel rods.

John played third base with his Brooks
Robinson A1 glove. He cherished that
glove.

He talked about the 5 P’s- prior
performance prevents poor
performance.

One RRHS game, Brian had the game
of his life with 38 points, John’s only
comment was, “Are you going to share
the ball going forward?”

The newspaper covered that game too.
They ended the season with the same
average per game within .10%

John loved his sweets- give him a Chuckles,
Kit Kat or Butterfinger and he was good to
go. Add a 2-liter Coke or orange soda and he
was doing even better… and don’t leave out
the pretzels (the Tilow curse).

John loved his “Gook” food and was always
up for Trio’s Pizza. He would tell Nan,” You
buy and I‘ll fly” …meaning Nan paid a few
times per week while John drove to do
the pickup.

The constant sound of that basketball
pounding on the driveway at Gibson.
Surprised the driveway survived those
years of dribbling and shooting.

John and Brian exchanging shirts
at Hayes School and tried to go
to each other’s class. Busted.
We all loved it.

Finding Dad’s golf clubs and going down
Woodward Avenue to the I-90 during
construction. John and Brian would try to
hit the balls to the other side of the highway
from the opposite sides. Hitting back and
forth. I think Brian still has a permanent welt
mark from one of John’s balls hitting him.

Prior to opening up 1-90 freeway, there
were a series of Grand Opening events.
One event was a bike race. John decided
to ride in that one which was a trek up
and back the highway. He rode like a bat
out of hell and when he crossed the finish
line… there was no one behind in sight as
he rode hands free to the win.

Winterhurst Ice Rink… Skating in speed
skates of course. What a sight.

John ran the 400 in High School track.
Brian ran the 800. John told him, “Why would I want
to run another lap?” John liked going fast including
52 seconds in his sophomore year.

He liked going fast and getting high.
He was one of those guys that
become so productive when he
toked up a doobie.

John was CO-MVP of the league in
his senior year.

In the opening game of their senior year against Cleveland
Heights, John and Brian both had 28 points in a close loss.
The opposing coach, who was the dean of high school
basketball at the time, came up to John and told him he
played a great game and he hoped he wouldn’t see him
again that season. John shot back and said “Hope to see
you again, Coach”.

John loved his college dorm room on the
3rd floor in Galloway Hall. Even though it
was super small, he got the single room
he really wanted.

John punted on the football team in
his first two years, then he saw Brian
running cross country and made the
switch because he wanted to get
a tan while playing a sport.

The After
College Years

After an adult BB game, John was at the
local watering hole and some guy was
giving this girl a really hard time. John
stepped in and the guy picked a fight
with John. They stepped outside and
John round housed him with one punch
and the guy falls like a ton of bricks. Out
cold. John gives him a one kick to make
sure (work boots). Brian was looking on
and didn’t know what to say or do. John
had the answer when he said, “Let’s get
another beer.” John walked tall and would
not take shit from a guy like that. And
he was strong as an ox like his
grandfather Sam.

Brian was driving down Woodward one
day to visit John at his Northland home.
John was a few blocks away at Madison
and Woodward playing basketball by him-
self in his white painter’s pants and work
boots. You can take the court away from
John but not his love for the game.

He liked doing things his way. Like the fence post hole that
was 5 feet deep and the endless great projects that he
started and even finished sometimes.

He always wanted quality things. He had to
have the top end refrigerator in the kitchen
but the rest of the kitchen was a disaster
and was always in the midst of his endless
rehabbing.

John’s wardrobe was well known - work boots, shorts,
flannel shirts in the fall. Painter pants whenever. And his
always present scuba watch.

He loved his vehicles. The white van was a
classic. Also, the Suburban, booze cruiser,
MG and the reddish Toyota pickup.

John became the mayor of the neighbor-
hood and liked that role.

He talked Dave D into riding to the east
coast on their bikes at 100 miles a day over
2 weeks.

John loved his music – Spro Gyro, Moody
Blues, James Taylor, Marshall Tucker, Gary
Weaver, Geno Giovanni and so many more.

John was known for picking up furniture
from tree lawns in Lakewood and Rocky
River… and then refinishing them to look
like they came from a high-end designer.

Ralph remembers seeing John driving
around town, heading for work, in his MG
with his top down and his passenger seat
loaded with ladders, buckets and a 7-foot
wallpaper table…quite a sight.

Seeing John standing in the middle of
a 12 by 12 room standing in a stationary
position rolling the entire ceiling out…
without moving his feet.

Then there was the time the Westlake
Police called Ralph asking if John
worked with him because they found
him in a vacant locked house after 6pm
one night. John was overbooked and
left the window unlocked so he could
come and go as he liked. John always
liked to work at his own pace.

There were many times when he would show up for a job
at noontime and was still going strong right through the
homeowners’ dinner and their kids doing homework.

Obviously, Brian and John always had a
very special twin brother relationship and
John would often tell him that he should
move back home to Rocky River.

Remembering John telling Mom that he saw Gramma
Agnes eating Jessie’s dog biscuits. She must have thought
they were just another snack food around the house.

Just a few months after Neil and Sally
became a couple, they came to town for
the 1976 Annual Christmas Party at Gibson.
John told Neil that he should marry Sally.
What he didn’t know was that was already
their plan.

John talked the Lakewood High School
vocational teacher into having a student
come over to the Whittelsay house to
help build the addition. He told Brian,
“What do I care if he only gets 80% of the
work done right, I still hit a home run.”
The addition only cost $2700 for labor
as a result.

John never had an issue with saying,
“fuck ‘em.”

Brian still remembers John telling him
about this basketball playing kid from
Akron…. LBJ

John would come over to Ralph’s house to
help with a project. He would pull his white
truck all the way up the edge of the garage
and then lock the doors. Ralph would go
out to the truck for supplies or tools and it
was always locked. It turns out he wasn’t
protecting his coke and licorice, but he
always kept his stash in the truck and
was afraid of losing that.

John and Brian would start joking around
and laughing so hard that Trish would
have to leave the room… Dumb and
Dumber.

John loved his good audio equipment so
he could crank up his music.

Kay Carey asked John to put up wallpaper on her condo
walls. He thought it would be a quick job. He didn’t realize
Kay was the Condo Board Chair and next thing he knew
he was papering every hallway in all 5 buildings with
4 stories each. He would paste up the wallpaper in his
garage the night before and then stick it in plastic bags
to hang the following day. It is nice to see when a great
plan really works.

None of us will ever forget the smile on John’s face when
he found out he was actually the older twin… and that
Brian was his little brother.

Ralph remembered the time that John
asked him to help him do a large family
room project. There were boxed ceiling
beams with textured ceilings. They painted
2 of the 5 sections before lunch and when
we came back from the break, John called
the job complete! He said 2 of the 5 looked
as good as 5 of the 5.

Just remembering how much we loved
John’s laugh… and how much we miss it
still.

The Family Years

John married Trish…the girl from the
neighborhood and really loved her and
that association.

He always was about family and staying
close to home…and he loved the comfort
of home.

John loved his children so much and was highly
protective of them.

There was no doubt that John really loved
Gramma Catherine Tilow. Hence his
daughter Catherine’s name.

He always called his kids by his nick-
names for each of them: Peach, Molie and
Momo/white tornado.

John and John Mike loved hanging out
with each other.

He was always bragging about Catherine’s
ice skating skills, John’s b-ball shot and
Maire’s swimming ability.

Maire was always his favorite to have all
his lap. She was always a handful and he
liked to cuddle her up.

Remember John spending every night in
the hospital when young John was sick
with Kawasaki illness.

Always saying that Peach was such a
good girl.

Remembering the times John would drive
to Cincinnati to help Brian on a house
project including the time he drove the
white van and young John sat on a
5-gallon paint bucket the whole way.

The Tilow’s never had dogs but John introduced
the entire family to dogs as he really loved Jessie.

John always loved babies and not just
when his 3 were babies but all babies.

Brian remembers watching John
chase Trish around the dining room
table telling her to “take a hit of this.”

The last thing:

And then there was Tilow time… He was never on time.
Ever. For anything. He never cared that he was late.
Everyone was so pissed at him until he walked in
the door and all was forgiven!