John Kessler Jr.

Ancestors

Son of John William Kessler Sr. and Bernice Ethel (Hubick) Kessler

Descendants

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Kessler [send private message]

Biography

Work in progress: When John William KESSLER was born on a snowy December 23, 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts, his father, John, was 29 and his mother, Bernice, was 26. His parents had met and married while both were students at George Williams College in Chicago. They had moved to Boston for John Sr to take a job with the Boston YMCA.

They lived at 111 Gainsbourough St. when John Jr was born. His brother was born in Boston in September of 1951. The family moved to Braintree, Mass and then to Rockland, Mass as the family grew. The 1950 Census shows the family living in Braintree, Massachusetts;

John Sr left the Boston Y to take the position of General Secretary at the Fitchburg Y and the family moved to Lunenburg where we lived at 130 Leominster Rd. John attended Lunenburg public schools, grades 1-8. Summers were spent camping and at the YMCA'S Camp Becket. In Lunenburg, at that time, there was still open country and regrown forest so a fair amount of time was spent exploring. John Sr took a job at the New England Area YMCA which was a regional YMCA office that offered advice and assistance to the Y's local operations in New England. This meant more time traveling. Bernice also earned her teaching certificate and started teaching in the Lunenburg schools the year I started 5th grade.

In the summer of 1962 the family moved to Oak Park, Illinois where John Sr. began his job as head of the Oak Park Y. I attended Oak Park River Forest High School where I was active in the band and the drama department. After graduation I went North to Minnesota and attended Macalester College.

After three semesters I decided that was enough for higher education and under some pressure from the draft, joined the Navy. Seems odd for a theater major but it turns out to be a huge costume drama with some really great stage equipment. In boot camp I learned I was too smart and too tall to be in the Honor Guards and ended up in Electricians Mate school and finally the Nuclear Power training pipe line. I attended Nuclear Power School in Bainbridge MD and the Nuclear Power Training Unit in West Milton NY. The first school is six months of classroom training in the sciences behind a reactor plant and the engineering that makes it work. The Nuclear Power Training or NPTU is hands on operation and maintenance of a prototype nuclear power plant complete with the reactor and its systems and the engine room where the energy is turned into propellor rotation and electricity. My assignment was to a plant that had just been refueled and was in the midst of an engineering test cycle that limited training time so class size was reduced and students (trainees) were selected who could deal with the extra issues in a program that is the most difficult in the Navy. Following training I was selected for what is now called a staff pick up position and spent the next two years as a Staff Operator/Instructor. During the last year of my two year stint as operator instructor I met the woman who would become my wife several years later. During that same time I volunteered as a classroom instructor to fill spaces becoming available as the plant was coming off its engineering test phase and moving towards full classes of trainees. I also decided to volunteer for submarines.

Following my stint at NPTU West Milton I was ordered to Groton CT for Basic Submarine School with follow on orders to the USS Puffer (SSN-652) which was home ported in Honolulu. At Sub School I managed to graduate at the top of my class. As a result of that I was able to request a specific type of boat and homeport. I chose an SSBN and Groton. My orders were to the USS Stonewall Jackson SSBN 634 home ported in Groton and sailing out of Holy Loch, Scotland. Being on an SSBN meant a regular schedule of patrols interspersed with 90 days in Groton. I married Elizabeth A WILBUR on October 14, 1972, in Colonie, New York about two weeks after the end of my first patrol. Following my second patrol Liz flew over to Scotland and I took leave for a two week trip from Dunnoon, Scotland to London with stops in Edinburgh, Stratford on Avon for a performance of a Shakespear play and finally London.

See USS Stonewall Jackson (SSBN 634) for more on SSBN 634.

Folowing my discharge from the Navy my wife and I moved to Minneapolis where I had been accepted at the University of Minnesota and where my parents had moved while I was in the Navy. I received a Bachelors and Masters degree in business. We lived in Minneapolis while I was going to school. I also worked in the Dayton's store during that time.

After graduation I accepted a posion at Napco Industries in their International Marketing Group. NAPCO was a supplier of all manner of miltiary related spare parts to customers all over the world, or at least those that had ex US military hardware and could qualify for US exports. Being an international marketer meant lots of travel to all sorts of places. I was in every western European country to which we could legally sell military equipment. In Asia I was in Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Phillipines, Singapore, India and Pakistan. In Africa I visited Egypt, Sudan. Somalia and Kenya. In the middle east I was in Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman. South America I only got to Venezuela and Colombia. In North America it was Canada and Mexico

They have two children. He has one brother.

John Kessler Jr. is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States Navy 1968-1973 as an EM2(SS) (submarine qualified Electricians Mate)
Operator Instructor at D1G, West Milton, NY and aboard SSBN 634 sailing out of Holy Loch, Scotland

Residence 1948-1952 Boston, Braintree and Rockland, MA 1952-August 1962. 131 Leominster Rd, Lunenburg, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. OPRFHS 62-66. September 1962 68 811 N Elmwood Ave, Oak Park, Cook, Illinois, USA. Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Boot Camp, Basic Electricity and Electronics, Electricians Mate "A" School (28 Weeks total). March 1968. Great Lakes, Lake, Illinois, USA. Navy Training Center Bainbridge, Nuclear Power School 6 months. 1969 Port Deposit, Cecil, Maryland, USA. NPTU West Milton NY Prototype Training 6 Months. 1969 Ballston Spa, Saratoga, New York, USA. Nuclear Power Training Unit Operator Instructor 1970-1972. Saratoga Springs, Saratoga, New York, USA. 1972-1973 Submarine School and USS Stonewall Jackson SSBN 634. 1972 Morse Ave, Groton, New London, Connecticut, USA. 1951 1973 Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA. 1973-1977 University of Minnesota BSB, MBA. 49 Riverside Drive and 151 River Cliff Dr. May 2011. Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Rockland, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Parents first house. 1950 Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA. Deephaven, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA. Summerville Road 1977-1981, Laurel Drive 1977-2011. 149 Rivercliff Drive, Milford CT 2012-Present

Name: John William KESSLER. ^{[1] [2] [3]} John William KESSLER Jr. Found multiple versions of name. Using John William KESSLER.

Born 23 DEC 1948. Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA. Map: Latitude: N42.3583. Longitude: W71.0603. ^{[1] [2]}

Residence Summerville Road 1977-1981, Laurel Drive 1981-2011. 1977 Deephaven, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA. Map: Latitude: N44.9297. Longitude: W93.5225. ^[1] File @M591@. File @M592@. File @M594@. 1973-1977 University of Minnesota BSB, MBA. 1973 Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota, USA. Map: Latitude: N44.98. Longitude: W93.2638. 1962-1968 OPRFHS 62-66. SEP 1962. 811 N Elmwood Ave, Oak Park, Cook, Illinois, USA. 49 Riverside Drive and 151 River Cliff Dr. MAY 2011. Milford, New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Map: Latitude: N41.2223. Longitude: W73.0565. Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Boot Camp, Basic Electricity and Electronics, Electricians Mate "A" School (28 Weeks total). MAR 1968. Great Lakes, Lake, Illinois, USA. Map: Latitude: N42.3084. Longitude: W87.8603. Navy Training Center Bainbridge, Nuclear Power School 6 months. 1969 Port Deposit, Cecil, Maryland, USA. Map: Latitude: N39.6048. Longitude: W76.1152. NPTU West Milton NY Prototype Training 6 Months. 1969 Ballston Spa, Saratoga, New York, USA. Map: Latitude: N43.0009. Longitude: W73.849. Nuclear Power Training Unit Operator Instructor 1970-1972. 1970 Saratoga Springs, Saratoga, New York, USA. Map: Latitude: N43.0831. Longitude: W73.7846. 1972-1973 Submarine School and USS Stonewall Jackson SSBN 634. 1972 Morse Ave, Groton, New London, Connecticut, USA. 1951 Rockland, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA. Map: Latitude: N42.1307. Longitude: W70.9161. Parents first house. 1950 Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA. Map: Latitude: N42.2223. Longitude: W70.9995. 1952-August 1962. 1952 131 Leominster Rd, Lunenburg, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Moved to CT in advance of Elizabeth while the house in Deephaven was being sold. AUG 2010. 5 Old English Lane, Oxford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA.

Sources

• Birth: "Massachusetts, U.S., Birth Index, 1860-1970"
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 3928 #3250112 (accessed 17 January 2022)
  Name: John W Kessler ; Birth Date: 1948; Birth Place: Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Volume Number: 53; Page Number: 30; Index Volume Number: 155; Reference Number: F63.M362 v.155.

• Birth: "Biography & Genealogy Master Index (BGMI)"
  Gale Research Company; Detroit, Michigan; Accession Number: 2454891
  Ancestry Record 4394 #7366055 (accessed 17 January 2022)
  Name: John William Kessler; Birth Year: 1948;

• 1950 Census: "1950 United States Federal Census"
  United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts; Roll: 6106; Sheet Number: 11; Enumeration District: 11-20
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 62308 #160047636 (accessed 6 May 2022)
  John W Kessler Jr (1), nev son, in household of John W Kessler (30) in Braintree, Norfolk, Massachusetts, USA. Born in Massachusetts.

• 1966 School Yearbook: "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999"
  "U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Oak Park River Forest High School; Year: 1966
  Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 1265 #174356173 (accessed 17 January 2022)
  Name: John W Kessler; Estimated Age: 16; Birth Year: abt 1950; Yearbook Date: 1966; School: Oak Park River Forest High School; School Location: Oak Park, Illinois, USA.

• Child Birth: "Minnesota, U.S., Birth Index, 1935-2000"
  Minnesota Department of Health; Saint Paul, Minnesota; Minnesota, Birth Index, 1935-2000
  Ancestry Record 8742 #154594359 (accessed 17 January 2022)
  Name: John William Kessler; Spouse: Elizabeth Aagot Kessler; Child: Christine Ann Kessler.

• Residence: "U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1"
  Ancestry Record 1788 #124050988 (accessed 30 March 2022)
  John W Kessler born on 23 Dec 1948. Residence Date: 1993, Address: 3635 Laurel Dr, Wayzata, MN, Postal Code: 55391-3228

• Father's Obituary: "U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current"
  Chicago Tribune; Publication Date: 6 Apr 2001; Publication Place: Chicago, Illinois, USA; URL: https://www.newspapers.com/image/389942974/?article=addc0e9c-1c28-4566-9928-84f26e63c2ab&focus=0.34089306,0.31357244,0.49517444,0.4157068&xid=3355
  Ancestry Record 61843 #447931756 (accessed 17 January 2022)
  Name: John Kessler; Newspaper Title: Chicago Tribune; Father: John William Kessler.

Acknowledgements

• Created by Eunice Pender Wilbur-403 11 July 2016. Profile was built on the research and work of Orina Delano Reagan Delano-852 (10th generation in America); "Wilburs in America Genealogy, 1995", (1st in America to 13th Generation); sources unknown. This is the person that introduced me to WikiTree!