John J Reddy, Jr

OBITUARY FOR JOHN JOSEPH REDDY JR.

John J. Reddy Jr. passed away peacefully in his sleep, at the age of 92, on June 3rd of 2025 in his home in Broomfield, Colorado. A proud native of Stamford, Connecticut, John was born on March 8th of 1933, the firstborn of a second generation, Irish American, John Joseph Reddy Sr., and a German immigrant, Marie Agnes Endrichs, both long-time residents of Stamford, CT.

John attended Steven's School, in Stamford, for first and second grade, having spent only one day in kindergarten before being promoted. While attending St. John's Parochial School for third through ninth grade, John was a uniformed member of the Boy's Brigade, participating in parades and other events. He was also in the Boys' Choir, where he was one of three students chosen to sing religious songs for miscellaneous WOR Radio's "Angeles Hour". During the holidays, the boys sang Christmas-themed songs on WOR Radio's "Cream of Mush Radio Program". In 1944, they also sang in live commercials during the Strand's Theater production of "The Man Who Came to Dinner", starring movie star, Laird Cregar. A child of the Depression, John always had a very strong work ethic. Starting at age 9, he began selling magazines and collecting recyclables for pocket money, doing chores at a local florist shop, and working as a newsboy for the Stamford Advocate, bundling newspapers until he graduated from St. John's, in 1948. It was during these early years that John became an avid, lifelong Yankee fan when his uncle, Walter Raymond Dolan DDS, took him to his first live baseball game at Yankee Stadium. As a child and young man, John loved and participated in several sports, including track, bowling, baseball, football, and basketball.

In 1950, while attending Stamford High School, John enlisted in the US Naval Reserve as a Seaman Recruit, Officer 3rd Class, doing some of his training aboard the Destroyer Escort, OSBERG. He also delivered the Stamford Shopper, chauffeured rich kids (in their parents' cars) to their sailing lessons, worked delivering groceries for his cousin Ralph Carroll of Carroll and McAuliff Grocer's on Summer Street, and even mowed William F. Buckley Jr.'s lawn! John most frequently worked for various construction companies, participating in renovating the Stollwercks Chocolate Factory, doing ironwork on a bridge over Hamilton Avenue, and building the Big Inch Oil and Gas Pipeline in the Highridge/Longridge area for Bechtel Construction Corp. As John's family had no vehicle during the Depression, John purchased and prized a bicycle which he rode everywhere, when he wasn't hitchhiking. In the summer of 1950, he met his future bride and the love of his life, Kathryn Marie Black, on a bus ride for a CYO (Catholic Youth Organization) activity. She was the daughter of beloved Stamford Policeman and Marine Patrolman, Steve Black Sr. and Kathryn Lucille Parker Black. John and Kathryn were eventually married at St. Maurice's Catholic Church in Glenbrook, Connecticut, on August 27th of 1955.

John spent two years doing pre-optometric studies at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, where he obtained a degree in Arts and Sciences prior to attending Pennsylvania State College of Optometry in Philadelphia (currently known as Salus at Drexel University). There, John was a member of the Phi Theta Epsilon fraternity and graduated with a Doctor of Optometry in June of 1957. Between his classes, he worked at Penn Fruit Grocery and as a night security guard at the college.

In October of 1957, after receiving an Honorable Discharge from the U.S. Naval Reserve, John was appointed a 2nd Lieutenant in the Optometric Division of the Medical Services Corp of the US Army. He served in the military, with pride, for a total of thirty years, in which time he received several accommodations, including an Army Commendation Medal (2 Oak Leaf Cluster), a Meritorious Service Medal in 1978, and the Legion of Merit (the country's 5th highest medal) in 1980. He served on bases at Ft. Sam Houston, TX; Ft. Belvoir, VA; Ft. Dix, NJ; Giessen and Munich, Germany; Ft. Knox, KY; and Ft. Ord, CA; often as the Chief of the Optometry Clinic. John retired as a full Colonel in December of 1980, at which time he went into private practice, owning and running several optometric practices in Texas. After selling his practices and moving to California in 1989, John obtained a real estate license and worked for Apple Valley Realty in Sonora, CA. Frustrated by the slow real estate market, he and his wife returned to Texas in 1994, where John filled in for other optometrists until he retired, for good, and moved to Broomfield, Colorado in June of 2011, to be closer to family.

John always held education in high regard, and over the years he earned additional degrees and/or participated in advanced studies. He took an Advanced AMEDS Officers Course in 1963, received a master's in education from Boston University in Munich, Germany in 1969, he attended Command and Staff College in Leavenworth, Kansas in 1975, and received a master's in public administration from Golden Gate University in Monterey, CA in 1976. He also held credentials to teach at junior colleges in the state of California, and from 1980-1981 he was an Adjunct Faculty Professor of the College of Optometry at the University of Houston's Central Campus. John always chuckled when remembering an encounter he had with a college entrance administrator. She asked him how many years of schooling he had had. When he told her, she said, "No sir, not how old are you...how many years of schooling do you have?"

Like his father and paternal grandfather before him, John was a lifelong member of the Knights of Columbus. He had a Fellowship in the American Academy of Optometry, and was a member of the Texas Optometric Association, and the Rio Grande Valley Optometric Society. He was also a lifetime member of the American Optometric Association, and a charter and lifetime member of the Armed Forces Optometric Society.

John was a strong, quiet, gentle man, loved by all who knew him. He was a dedicated husband, and the amazing father of four children. To the very end, he focused on his many blessings rather than his aging body and failing health. John will be lovingly remembered by those who have survived him: his dear sister, Ann Marie Luther (Robert); his devoted daughters, Karen Anderson (John), Michelle Reddy, and Kimberly Jensen (Michael), and his son, Brian Reddy; his four grandsons (to whom he was "Opa"), Ryan Anderson (Rebecca), Matthew Reddy (Kennedy), Joshua Simmons (Carrie), and Nicholas Simmons (Catie); his nine great-grandchildren, Isaiah, Jace, Adam, Olivia, Michael, Jayden, Peyton, Luke, and Audrey; a niece (Lisa Housel) and nephew (Robby Luther) and their beautiful families.. He is predeceased by his beloved wife of 64 years, Kathryn Marie (Black) Reddy in September of 2019; his parents John Joseph Reddy Sr. and Marie Agnes (Endrichs) Reddy; his little brother, Thomas "Tom" Frederick Reddy; his in-laws Stephen "Steve" Joseph Black Sr. and Kathryn "Kate" Lucille (Parker) Black; and a son-in-law Robert "Bob" Edward Dillon, and his favorite and most cherished grandparent with whom he and his parents lived when John was a young child, Anna Erdmann Endrichs (Fred).

A devout Roman Catholic, John's funeral and graveside services, with military honors, will be held at 11:00 a.m. on June 11th. A rosary will be said prior to the services which will all be held at Sacred Heart of Mary Catholic Church, in Boulder, CO. John would be very honored and blessed for you to remember him, and his family, in your prayers.