John James Provenzano Jr.

Written by John James Provenzano III, and delivered at Valley of the Sun Cemetery on August 5th, 2021.

Let me start by saying ehhhhhhhh. Thanks for coming. Seriously, thank you all for coming here today to honor and say goodbye to a man known by many nicknames, JP, J Peepers, The Hawk, Chief, Popa John, and I called him Pops.

John James Provenzano Jr. Born April 10th, 1945, in Long Island, New York. Son of John Provenzano Sr and Bernadine Lowrie. Brother to Greg and Karen, my Father, and Grandfather to my Son James.

My father grew up in a few different places and wound up in Freeport, NY, where he worked with the Village of Freeport as an Electrical Lineman. He joined the volunteer Freeport Fire Department in 1963. I was born on a Friday in December 1970. My first stop from the hospital was Engine Company. He was proud of me, and proud to be a fireman. He served the community well and made the sacrifices necessary to be an active fire fighter. He rose thought the ranks in the department and was voted in as Third Assistant Chief in 1979, and went on to be the Chief of Department in 1982. He also became Freeports' first Fire Marshall.

My father was liked by many. He would go out of his way to help anyone. He was quick witted and had a joke ready to make someone laugh. My father was a talented carpenter, plumber, electrician, and all around craftsman. I have my father to thank for passing these talents down to me and to my son James. My father retired from Freeport and moved to Arizona around 1988. He had many different jobs here, one was with Arizona DOT, serving the community once again.

He loved to ride motorcycles. He hated them and when I was 15, I talked him into getting me a Moped. He rode it one day, caught the bug and got his own Moped, larger, and we jokingly called it " The George Jetson Mobile." Eventually he got a real motorcycle, a Harley Heritage. He was in the Blue Knights Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club. He was popular and became President of the Arizona chapter.

He met his last wife Jacque, who is interred here. They were happily married for, I believe, thirteen years. She died of Cancer. While she was sick, my father took very good care of her and made sure she would live out her life in her home. He made whatever modification to the house that were needed for that.

My father loved his dogs. He had a few of them over the years, and they were always characters just like him.

He was diagnosed with a neurological disease a few years ago. He had to go through treatments every two weeks to keep his strength up. He did whatever necessary to be able to get around his house on his own, including 55 grabber sticks placed everywhere. He was fiercely independent and wanted to live in his own house until the very end.

He was a very strong-willed man.

There is too much to list to sum up someone's life. We all know people as we see them, and other people know someone different than we know them, we all love someone differently.

Pops, I love you, and may you rest in everlasting peace. Ehhhhhhh