John W. Schoening

John W. Schoening was born March 3, 1937 in Delmenhorst, Germany to Alexander and Mathilde (Pieper) Schoening. John spent his childhood in war-torn Germany. His family decided to make the move to the United States in 1952.After graduating from Grover Cleveland High School in 1954, John attended Upsala College for about 2 years and then joined the US Air Force for a 4 year stint as a personnel clerk in an isolated place called Port Austin, Michigan. After an honorable discharge in June of 1960, John started working as a bill collector for Transamerica Financials, a finance company in Detroit. He progressed through the ranks to the position of General Manager of this company’s revolving credit card operation. In 1969 John accepted a position with Singer Corporation in Frankfurt, Germany as Credit Manager. During his time back in Germany he met and fell in love with Friedel Eckey. Following a brief courtship, they were married on November 14. John's love for the United States was enough to persuade his new wife to leave everything she knew to start a new life in the United States. In 1970, General Electric hired him as Operations Manager of their credit card operations in sunny California! A new life had begun, with a new home and the birth of his daughter, Kimberly in 1973. Following a two year position in General Electric's home office in Connecticut, John's professional "big break" materialized and he became President of their subsidiary in Puerto Rico where he served successfully for 4 years and then was transferred back California to run the Real Estate business for what was then General Electric Credit Corporation (now General Electric Capital).

In 1982 John was given the opportunity to move to Hong Kong as Managing Director for their local subsidiary. Two years later, John was transferred as CEO and chairman of their West German operations where he served until 1988. At this time, he returned to Southern California and retired with the so called "golden parachute". It was impossible for John to adjust to retirement so three years later, John grew bored and opened his own mortgage company (Action Mortgage) which he then sold in 1995. John's experiences living in Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia fueled a passion for travel. Once he finally truly retired, John spent as much time as possible traveling the world. It was often joked, "where in the world is John?" He passed this love on to his daughter and son-in-law, Kelly, often inviting them to join various trips around the world .In 2002, following one such amazing trip to Fiji, Friedel was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Friedel fought a valiant battle, but passed away in February, 2004. Fortunately, she and John were there to witness the birth of their first grandchild, Aiden Alexander just five months prior. He brought them both indescribable joy.In 2004 John was fortunate to meet Gerri Hanken, a beautiful “Dutch lady” and a story of love and mutual understanding unfolded. Their marriage in 2008 brought two families together. The addition of two new granddaughters, Alina and Brianna (who he loved as his own), and the birth of Hederik, Sienna and Allard made his life complete. John continued pursuing his passion for travel throughout the nine years of his marriage to Gerri, traveling to amazing places across the globe. John W. Schoening will always be remembered as the man planning his next adventure!