John Stevely

I am heartbroken to hear this news. I worked with John for several years. He was incredibly funny, caring and and an overall genuine human being.
Sincere condolences to Catharine as well as all of John’s family.

Epitaph on my own Friend
by Robert Burns

An honest man here lies at rest,
As e’er God with His image blest:
The friend of man, the friend of truth;
The friend of age, and guide of youth:
Few hearts like his, with virtue warm’d,
Few heads with knowledge so inform’d:
If there’s another world, he lives in bliss;
If there is none, he made the best of this.

Met my cousin John for the first time three and a half years ago for the first time. We were visiting from Scotland,.Had a wonderful party hosted by John & Catharine, the warmth of the welcome was outstanding, John was the perfect gentleman, witty and caring. I’m know that he will be a tremendous loss to the family and his many friends over there.
I found this verse which I hope you can take something from :-

You can shed tears that he is gone
or you can smile because he has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that he’ll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all he’s left us.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember him and only that he’s gone
or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back
or you can do what he’d want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Farewell John, Slainte

You shared something with me on December 2nd that I will never forget. I’m not going to lie, when I heard of your passing I cried. Now I am reflecting on what you shared with me and can’t help but have the biggest smile knowing that you are surrounded giggles and true love in God’s Garden. May you rest easy my friend. I love you brother.

My sincere condolences. John was a neighbor of mine and we became great friends. One of the warmest and kindness guys you would ever meet. I honestly can’t believe this is a reality.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Catherine and John’s family.

Our deepest condolences to Catharine and the entire family over the loss of John. He was a great man and loved by many and will be truly missed. John had an amazing smile and positive attitude that made him always approachable and kind. He was fun and so full of life. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire family at this difficult time. As John would often say, “Cheers”. 🙂
John and Renee Freeman

My sincere condolences to the John’s wife Cathy and the whole family. Many thoughts and prayers to you all for peace during this difficult time.

I am terribly saddened to hear of John’s passing. We worked together for a number of years at StartTech.com and I have very fun memories of that time. My deepest condolences to Catharine and all of John’s family and friends.

Helen Hanke
January 7 at 11:56 AM ·
Shared with Your friends
I too would like to thank everyone sincerely for their kind words during this time. I read each condolence and they all were so kind and thoughtful, you captured the essence of our John’s soul. John had only 50 wonderful years on this earth, lots of laughs, fun, loving families and friends surrounded him. I wish to thank Catharine and her family for loving our John as much as we do. He was like our Dad a pure soul, loved chatting to others, making people feel comfortable and welcome in his space always a smile on his face. I was 18 when he was born and my sister Marion 13,,,such a miracle child and we were blessed to have him. Marion spent a lot of time with John growing up and she was there for him as a young boy. She told one story the other day, they lived in either Clinton or Goderich and she would pick him up from the bus after school he was probably 8 and he was always dropped off at the side of the highway. He wasn’t there,,,,she waited and worried and when she found him, he said he was helping one of his girl pals who was beating up two boys and he helped by holding her books,,,,that’s our John. The last few days our families have shared stories of John all positive and fun, from being the cool Uncle from his nephew Tyler, and rival football Bills fan from his nephew Dawson who is a Patriots fan. My son David is only 5 years younger than John and grew up more like brothers,,,I am sure I will never hear all the shenanigans they got up to. My David would go out West each year and spent time with John, fishing with Granpa and Gramma cooking great meals. As a little boy we would go to Kincardine on the weekends and our Dad would play the bagpipes in the Saturday night parade, our John was about 3 or 4 and was in the band with Dad in his wee kilt and he owned a sock Monkey that he used as his bagpipes a memory we all cherish. Catharine is the love of his life and I want to thank her and her family for loving John as much as we did. We usually chatted when he was doing laundry in the basement we laughed about of ❤️”laundry chats” I will miss them terribly. Our last chat was New Years Eve day, he was so happy in life, wonderful friends and family around him. He loved his work and he gave it his all, for years he took courses to be promoted in his department for the City of London to Manager and he did it he was so excited and was looking forward to his next chapter in his career. We spoke about his future with Catharine, as you know they loved to travel and we chatted about their plans for a wonderful retirement together. John we love you dearly and always will God took back one of his Angels far too soon and are hearts are broken. Please focus on all the fun times you had with our John as he made us all laugh every day…Love Helen Hanke

May all the sweet memories of John bring you solace during this time. I hope that all the great moments that you and family were able to have with him before he passed away brings you comfort. John the coolest guy ever!
Juan Cardona