John Fanning, My Brother

            

             Here begins a short narrative of life and times of John Joseph Fanning. John was born December 17, 1934, in Mercy Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to Martin and Martha Fanning of 1701 N. Webster Avenue, Dunmore P.A. After an hour after John was born, his twin brother Joe was born. They were both very handsome babies. John was a very healthy 8 or 10 pounds. Joe was less than 4 pounds.   Doctors told his mother Joe would, in all likelihood, not live but a few days since he was small and extremely weak. Nevertheless, his mother insisted on taking baby Joseph home and giving him all the attention she could give him as long as he lived, be it a few days, or whatever it would be. To the absolute astonishment and delight of his mother Joe held on to life, held on, and then rallied, gained weight, and began providing his mother with great joy.

 

           December of 1934 was the depth of the depression and times were difficult. Marty Fanning, John’s father was one of the exceptions. His father was a successful auto dealer in 1928 a beautiful home was built to Mr. Fanning’s specifications on the corner of Webster Avenue and Delaware Street. Indeed it was a beautiful home. When John was born the Fanning’s had 3 older children two boys and a girl John and Joe becoming the 4 and 5 children. A decision was made to hire someone to help John’s mother with the children. A Polish woman named Tessie very able and very caring lady, was hired to help. She would eventually work almost exclusively with the twins. The twins would become Tessie’s whole life. She became very devoted to them and raised them like they were her own. It’s not recalled whether she had any children of her own, but one thing was certain, she was an excellent caregiver of these two boys.

           The twins were non-identical and were distinctively different. Joe was blonde and very thin; John had dark black hair more muscular and very handsome features for a young young child. There were some very beautiful pictures taken of them in their very early years. The twins would begin their schooling at St. Mary’s of Mount Carmel Elementary School located directly across from St. Mary’s church on Chestnut Street in Dunmore, P.A. Life was good for the twins, living in a fine house, having the care of a loving mother and father and also the love and care of Tessie. Typically, children were 5 years old when they entered first grade. John and Joe entered St. Mary’s in 1940, completing elementary school in 1948.

             Everything in their lives to this point was very normal summers would be spent at Lake Ariel, a beautiful place. Their father had two summer homes on the lake and great fun would be had by the entire family vacationing by the lake.

 

             But things were about to change. World War II stared in Europe in 1939. This led to United States involvement by December 1941. Eventually the entire country would be geared up to defeat the Nazis. New car production cease in 1942-1943, leaving John’s father with no new cars to sell. His dad returned to the plumbing trade, which he had learned in his earlier years and with the family income drastically reduced, the sons would be called upon to do chores and take jobs to add to the family’s income. The boys could be seen cutting the neighbor’s grass, hauling ashes to the street from the neighbor’s cellars, delivering newspapers, doing odd jobs, and caddying on a golf course. The last mentioned was to have a terrible consequence.

 

             In 1949, John was a freshman at St. Paul’s Catholic High School. He and his younger brother went one day to the golf course to caddy to earn a few dollars. Typically, all the boys, 10 to 15 years of age, would wait in a caddy tent. When a caddy was needed, he would be brought out of the tent and assigned to the golfer. On that fateful day, John was called and he went far down the fairway, and far off to the side of the fairway to see where the balls landed that the golfer was hitting. The golfer was hitting a bucket of balls and John, well down the fairway, off to the side, was to gather the balls after they were hit.

 

           It was a tragic day for John, for the golfer and for John’s entire family. The golfer was a particularly poor golfer and hit a ball that went very far away from the fairway and ended by striking John directly in the right eye. John was hit with incredible force. He was rushed to the hospital. He underwent surgery. The doctors tried very hard to save the eye but could not. They were very fearful, justified or not that John might lose sight entirely if they operated to save the injured eye. They decided to use a more conservative approach, assuring the unaffected eye would not be jeopardized by risky surgery on the eye that was severely damaged.

 

           Meanwhile his brother was notified John had been hit in the eye with a golf ball and was sent home. The entire family gathered back at the house and waited for information from the hospital. They only knew that John was under-going surgery. When the news finally came a few hours later that John had lost his eye, that he would never see out of the eye again it was devastating. The entire family was in deep shock and an incredible sadness set in. John’s father, aged 60 at the time, sat out on the front porch. John was just 13 years of age at the time. No one saw him but for one other member of the family. Marty Fanning, father of John, wept, wept bitterly and long over the events of that day. He was never ever seen weeping any day prior or any day after that fateful day.

 

         This would begin for John a new life, a new way of doing things. His vision would be limited. He would adjust. From that day forward right down to this very day he complained almost never, conducted himself in as normal a fashion as possible, would never want any special consideration for himself. He had a very special way, a very kindly way about him. He simply applied himself to any situation that presented itself and did the best that he could do with it. He played many sports; basketball, tennis, softball, and football. He also liked to swim. He had a certain demeanor about him, different from the other sons. He carried himself with a quiet dignity, a maturity far greater than usual for a person his age. He had a wonderful laugh, always enjoyed a good joke, always ready to help. Of his newly found situation, he would rarely speak. Sometimes he would tell about his times with the specialist who would fit him with his artificial eye. He was fitted for an artificial eye every few years and often had problems with it. He would have to get refitted when the eye soccet became highly irriated. Actually, he had many hardships to endure due to his new condition. He continued to deal with each one of them.

 

         John and his brother Joe were enrolled in St. Paul’s high school on Capouse Avenue in Scranton, Pa. Tuition was $3.00 a month. John had difficulty with his studies but persisted. He eventually got just passing grades, but good grades. He participated in pick up sports playing basketball and softball and tennis. He was a fine natural athlete and had agility and excellent coordination. Joe and John graduated from St. Paul in 1952. John had done well. His academic progress was good but his penmanship had deteriorated. In the summer after graduation, John was offered a work scholarship at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass. The college was about 300 miles from his home. Ben LaStrange, the golfer who struck the ball that hit John had a retail dry cleaning business at Holy Cross. He offered John the opportunity to earn all his college tuition. John accepted the offer.

 

         John’s work scholarship to Holy Cross was a very nice gesture on the part of Ben LaStrange. Mr.LaStrange had founded an on-campus college part-time dry cleaning operation many years earlier. He handled only the retail end of the business. He decided to give the entire business to John. John now would have complete control and ownership of the business. He made very good use of the opportunity.

         Every 2 or 3 nights a week he and those he employed would go door to door to all the college dormitory rooms and solicit dry cleaning business. This, of course, was done after a regular day of classes and doing term papers. We had many term papers to do. The pants, jackets, suits, etc. were marked, collected, carried to “the shop,” a 12 by 20 ft. room adjoining the college cafeteria. From there the dry cleaning company would pick up and delivery of clothes. Then the items all on hangers had to identified and tagged with the correct invoice. John and his co-workers would spend many hours in that tiny, tiny room tagging clothes.

 

         Dry cleaning items were not delivered to the dorm room; students had to pick up their items from the shop. This was very good for us. Nevertheless, the shop needed to be attended and open for regular business hours for items to be picked up. So all in all 25 to 35 hours a week could be needed to make the operation work. And it was profitable. The good Jesuit fathers did not changed John for the room. A suit typically would cost 50 cents to be dry-cleaned. The student paid $1.00, so the profit margin was fine. It generated enough money to pay for college tuition.

 

         John had a deep interest in Mathematics. He requested his major be Mathematics. He was told with his work scholarship he might not have the time to devote to a very difficult major. He yielded to their thinking and majored in Sociology. He used to often talk about majoring in math.   He became involved with the chess club and became one of the leading members. When he worked for various high schools in later years he was very much involved with chess clubs. He found something he enjoyed very much; he was helping others.

 

         John started at Holy Cross in 1952, and graduated in 1956. in 1953, I went to Holy Cross and was with John for two years 1953-1955. It was a very hard school academically, but I look back at those years with John as two great and wonderful years.

 

         The college on the hill it was called, many, many stately buildings dotting the very steep hill that was Holy Cross College. John became very close friends with Chip Hanlon and Fred Allen. Chip and John became roommates for John’s last two years. Both Chip and Fred went on to become priests, Chip in the Boston area and there for two to three weeks. He was apprehensive but still very excited about the possibility of becoming a priest. It was a short time later that he learned of their decision. He would be accepted. And it was a short time later he traveled to Wernersville, Pa., near the city of Reading, to begin his formation and training.

 

         The year was 1957; John was 22 years old. Things went well. He had some support form his younger brother who was also in Wernersville, but in the second phase of training so they were not able to see each other too often. About once a month or more likely, every two months they were able to visit with each other. He was genuinely happy. He always had been a deeply spiritual person. He took his spiritual responsibilities very seriously. He was never ostentatiously pious. He was very non-verbal, as a matter of fact kind of spiritually. He was never a spiritual show-off-seminarian and this demeanor was evident when a seminarian.

 

         Again he made many friends with his typical very likeable habits, kindness and his extreme thoughtfulness when it came to those around him whoever they were. He typically would rise at 5:30 a.m. with a one hour mediation period from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., mass at 7:15, breakfast at 8:00. The morning would include classes in English and some Latin. The first phase of Jesuit training did not emphasize academics, but spiritual values. Thus there were many periods of prayer interrupted with work or manual activities, outdoor and indoor and periods of recreation. And there were visitations by relatives on a few Sundays of the year. One visit was a visit by his brothers Ed and Joe who traveled to Wernersville with Jim Haggerty a friend of the family. A picture of the 5 young men was taken and an article about them appeared in the local newspaper, the Scranton Times. In the Seminary, he continued to make progress and was settling to his new life-a disciplined, confirming life-one of high purpose and lofty visions-the salvation of souls, what more lofty goal could one have? One day followed another there was an order to everything there was a clear pattern to things. He was getting very adjusted to his new life and high goals. He was happy again. He was at Wernersville about one year, and then it happened-another incredible event!

         John was brought in for a conference with seminary personnel. He was told his progress was satisfactory but a decision had been reached-their decision-not his -that he would not be able to go forward with his seminary program. He would be required to withdraw. The reason-it was unclear. It was not made clear. At least to John……at least to John. He was devastated. He was in total shock and disbelief. He could not believe what he was hearing. --Another unbelievable setback he now faced. He had no idea that it was coming. He was told to withdraw.   And he did.

         He returned home. An unbelievable turn of events. Now at age 23 or 24 he was back to the place of some happy and some very unhappy events. He had lived away from home since the age 18. Successful at Holy Cross, successful in many, many ways, but now back home without the slightest idea of what he would do with himself. What will he become? What will he do with himself? What will he do with the rest of his life? He just didn’t know. This was another huge unbelievable setback. Back home, where he had spent his early, happy and sad ones. He had left this house 6 years earlier to make his way in the world, now he was right back where he started from 6 years earlier, not knowing what he would do with himself. What will he become? What will he do with himself? What will he do with the rest of his life? He just didn’t know. This was another huge unbelievable setback. Back home, where he had spent his early years, happy and sad ones. He had left this house 6 years earlier to make his way in the world, now he was right back where he started, not knowing what he would do. He would wake up in the morning and there would be enormous pain in his stomach. It would not go away. His stomach was in knots, in terrible knots. The question remained what would he do with himself. Time passed;day followed day. He rethought all his years. He would recall all his high school days, his seminary days-what would the days to come bring? He had no idea. More time passed. He had the pattern of getting by himself and thinking about the past, recollecting in detail his past. He after much reflection and though he would go back to school…take some courses possibly, and perhaps go back to the old jobs he had done before in the Pocono’s, at the Mononomock Inn. He had worked as a waiter in the Pocono’s, and that’s what he did. Within a few months he was back working as a waiter at Mt Airy Lodge.

 

         His father was now an inspector of plumbing for the General State Authority an agency of the Stat of Pennsylvania. His dad would drive 30 miles everyday to a work site near Stroudsburg. Later in life he recalled very fondly of those rides together with his father. His dad was 70 years old at the time, still working, driving 30 miles each way to work every day. They had some very pleasant conversations on the drive back and forth after returning from work, John would shower and get ready to go to night classes at the university of Scranton. He would become certified to teach English in public school. He gained his certification by taking these University classes.

 

         John eventually earned two masters degrees, permanent certification in the State of New York in English, Social Studies, Coordinator of English and Social Studies. Additional certifications were earned in the area of senior high school assistant principal, and senior high school principal. All of these certifications acquired over the period of the next 10 15 years. He was forever taking one more course on a Saturday morning or on Tuesday and Thursday nights somewhere in Pennsylvania or New York.

 

The Walton Years

 

         Upstate and very rural New York State in the late 1950’s was in desperate need of teachers, particularly, English teachers. College graduates in places like Walton, New York Deposit, New York, Hancock, New York were as rare as a pretty warm day up there. John applied for a teaching position in English in Walton, New York in 1959. He got the job!! His first year teaching was in the “Moat and Drawbridge" as it was called. A high school so named because it was built before the Civil War. It looked ancient because, it was ancient. An old, old, brick exterior, and very noticeably old interior, especially the classrooms. He survived the first year. He said he had fun. It was hard. Yet think for a minute-he said he had fun. New surroundings, all new people, new town, new everything.   But he simply kept moving forward, made some progress and looked forward to his second year. He was happy. A brand new high school was just being completed in Walton, on the other side of town.

 

         And something else made him very happy. He had made the acquaintance of a young lady who was a native of Walton. Her name was Elizabeth Guarino. She and John became good friends, and began dating. John lived in a boarding house located at 10 South Street. About 10 to 15 boarders lived on the second floor and meals were served on the first floor near the rear of the building. The elderly lady who owned the house prepared and served the meals. John was to reside there for about 6 years.

 

         He would eventually teach English to 11th and 12th grades at the new Walton Senior High School from 1959 to 1965.

 

         He settled into his teaching life with its chores, its good moments and bad. He was well like by his students. He later became a chess coach, playing many, many games of chess with students and other teachers and staff. This was something he could do well and enjoyed playing the game and enjoyed helping other to play the game better. He was a regular at school events. He taught British literature with emphasis on the works of Williams Shakespeare, and many of the famous English authors. He taught courses in American Literature covering the major writers in American literature. He also taught vocabulary, grammar, usage and reading, primarily to 11th and 12th graders.

 

         While living and working in Walton he made it a practice to come home once or twice a month. If he were taking classes at the University of Scranton that semester, he would come home every weekend. That meant working all week, driving home on Friday, and going to class on Saturday morning. Some schedule! It was a fairly long ride from Walton to Dunmore, about 3 to 4 hours over mostly all two-lane road. His car was a 1956 Pontiac.

 

         After John’s first year at Walton, his younger brother Jim graduated from the University of Scranton and was looking for a job. John did some checking for his brother and found out Walton Senior High School was still looking for more English teachers. His brother applied and was hired. He also moved into 10 South Street (the boarding house) and taught English to 8th and 10th graders.

 

         During the year his brother had difficulty with a few students. One student was the son of a Walton School board member. His brother Jim was not invited back-He was to move to Binghamton and later got a job teaching in the Binghamton area. John continued at Walton Senior High School. He continued to see Elizabeth; they became very close. In June of 1963 they were married. His brother Ed was best man.

 

       Things continued to go well for John. Their first son was born; they named him John. And then they were blessed with a second son, Christopher. Elizabeth so much wanted a girl. They prayed over a very important decision; they would adopt. A baby girl was decided upon.   They brought home Mary Beth.   She was a very pretty baby.   A few years later they were blessed with another daughter. They would call her Nicole, another very pretty baby. They   now had five children.    

         John taught English at Union Endicott high school starting in 1963. In 1978 he was offered a position at Vestal Central high school. He accepted the offer. Vestal was a much better school system. It definitely was a step up.   He would be the coordinator of English for the high school. In 1985 he was asked to also be the coordinator for social studies. He held both responsibilities until he retired in 1991.   A very generous retirement package was offered; two years salary if he would retire. He decided to take to offer fully intending to continue as an educator in a different setting. For many years he was employed part time as a teacher trainer. For the University of the State of New York at Cortland he had trained teachers for about 8 years. He continued to do this. But for some very long time he diligently sought additional employment. He applied to many, many places. In every instance, his reply was in the negative. That bothered him a great deal. He wondered if he made the right in retiring. He continued to seek educational job opportunities, but to no avail. While coordinator of Social Studies at Vestal he took groups of students to Washington D C to see our national government at work. He tried to involve himself in that work again, but again he was unsuccessful.

         It was about this time he began to walk much more often. And now his walks would be for long distances. His walks now were for five to seven miles. He made more trips to Scranton to see his sisters Martha and Clair. He made the trip often, many trips in good weather, and even in bad wintery weather he made the trip. Most often he went by himself, often his wife would go with him.

           It was also about this time he became involved in with Meals on Wheels. He became a very active member of the organization and volunteered two full days a week for many years.   Only because of declining health did he discontinue working at Meals on Wheels.

       His health began to noticeably worsen.   His wife took him to a series of doctors. He was diagnosed to have alzheimer’s disease.   His wife along with his sons and daughters as well as his sisters and brothers were very saddened.   John was now to face the most difficult part of his life.