John J. Lussen Jr.

John graduated from St. Bridget’s High School, and then attended New York University in 1937. He worked as a salesman for Peter Frasse Company in New York City, selling steel for mechanical and aircraft applications.

He served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1941 to 1945. He achieved the rank of First Lieutenant, and was a pilot of a DC C-47 cargo plane, on both combat and non-combat missions. He also performed automotive troubleshooting for a motorized cavalry unit, purchasing and contracting of subsistence materials, and labor for an Army Air Base in Foreign Service in Ecuador. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Citation American Theater (Anti-submarine patrol); American Defense Service Medal; European African Middle Eastern Theater Campaign ribbon.

John met when Alice Meek at Love Field in Dallas, where John was stationed and Alice worked as a telephone operator. They were married on July 7, 1943, in Enid, Oklahoma. John and Alice had four children: Michael (currently of Warren, Vermont), Catherine (currently of Colorado Springs, Colorado), Thomas (currently of Edgerton, Missouri), and Charles (currently of Colorado City, Colorado). They have two grandchildren, Daniel of Salida, Colorado and Tracy of Des Moines, Iowa. They have four great- grandchildren, Lauren, Faithe, Aysia, and Harold L. Norris.

John worked as a purchasing agent for about 30 years, for A.B. Murray Steel and Tubing, in Elizabeth, New Jersey and Bristol, Pennsylvania. After retirement, he and Alice moved to Stephenville, Texas, to live near Alice’s family. They lived there for about 15 years and then moved to Pueblo, Colorado.

John is preceded in death by his wife Alice, who passed away on April 21, 2008. John lived at the Colorado State Veteran’s Nursing Homes in Florence, Colorado and Walsenburg, Colorado, for 7 years prior to his death on February 28, 2010.

Arrangements under the direction of Swan-Law Funeral Directors, Colorado Springs, Colorado