Obituary of John James Kienlen

John James Kienlen was born on February 13, 1932 in Fairfax, Minnesota to Arthur John and Agnes Josephine (Zollner) Kienlen. He was one of three boys.

Arthur and Agnes moved the family to Bonners Ferry, Idaho where Arthur and Agnes homesteaded and John grow up as a farmer’s son, were he learned the value of a hard day’s work. John dropped out of high school in the 9^th grade. John worked at George Miller General Store from Feb 1948 to Feb on 1951 as a store Clerk before entering the Air Force on February 27, 1951. He did his basic training at Lockland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. While in the Air Force during the winter of 1954 Bob Bergio & John Kienlen entered a shuffleboard tournament and swept the doubles title. In August of the same year John received his GED, just before his discharge as an Airman First Class on February 26, 1955 after service at Bossier Base in Shreveport, Louisiana.

After John was discharged from the Air Force he started in construction. It was then John started to work for Harding Construction that he joined the Local 701 Operating Engineers Union on November 26, 1956. He started working for Harding Construction as an oiler and throughout his career he had worked his way up to being a superintendent. He loved to tell his grandkids and anyone else who would listen, “You don’t need a college education to turn out fine, look at me. I didn’t even finish high school and I have done ok”. John worked for a few different construction companies, the ones he would talk most about was Harding Construction, Spencer and Sons where he met his best friend Pete Whitson, and Elting Inc. where he retire after more than 20 years. John met some of his closest and dearest friends in construction. John always said that you could tell the character of a person by the way they shook your hand, a firm hand shake was very important to him. John retired in 1995, but couldn’t walk away completely, he was always there to lend a helping hand when someone asked and this went on until around 2007 when he finally called it quits. John stayed in good standing with the Local 701 Union and was very proud the day he was grandfathered in. He was one of the longest standing members of the Local 701 having been with the Union for 64 years (5 days shy of 65 yrs.).

While working for Harding Construction, John met and became friends unknowingly with his future brother in law, who introduced him to Mary Elizabeth Wolf. John and Mary were married in Sublimity, Oregon on June 29, 1963. John followed the work with Mary by his side. John was working in Ashland, Oregon when the couple had their first child, a son Martin John on June 10, 1964. Their daughter Lisa was born almost 2 year later on March 29, 1966 in The Dalles, Oregon. Mary and the kids followed John from job to job until their son started school in 1969 when they put down roots in Hubbard, Oregon.

John was a simple man, never wanted anything flashy. He was happy with the simple things in life as long as he had a drink in his hand along with family and friend around, life couldn’t get any better. If something broke there was no need to go out and buy a new one, just fix it, it was bound to last a little longer. However most of the time his fix was with duct tape. He just knew that duct tape fixed everything from a leaky pipe, holes in shoes to an aching elbows, knees and feet. Just put duct tape on it and it would be good to go.

John enjoy many things, work, gardening, his cats (his many cats), bowling, golf and family. Sometimes it felt like it was in that order, well maybe the cats came before gardening. His garden was pictured in the Woodburn Independent one year and he was so proud. He loved to share the abundance of veggies from his garden with anyone and everyone. He started golfing on a regular bases with his friend Pete, they both enjoyed the game for many years up until the time of Pete’s passing. Both John and Pete were members of the Men’s Club at Ranch Hills Golf Club in Mulino, Oregon. He still play in tournament with the Elting Crew for a few years after Pete’s death. John was an avid bowler and bowled right up until March of 2020. Those of us who had the privilege to bowl with him knew how he loved to play for quarters, and if you didn’t have a quarter to join in, he would give you one just so he could win it back. John enjoyed the game so much that he got his family involved, and every time another family member joined the happier he was. He and his son, Marty bowled together for many years and once Marty decided to put his ball away he got his daughter, Lisa to join. Following Lisa came granddaughter Rebecca and grandsons Ryan, Justin and Robert, and his daughter in law Pauline. All getting the chance to bowl with or against him on league nights and in a few tournaments. John was a jokester, he loved to give people a bad time, he always had something silly to say, and was that way up until the time of his passing. While in the hospital doctors would ask him to hold up 2 fingers and what would John do, you guessed it he would just give them “The Finger”.

John is survived by his wife; Mary, of more than 57 yrs., son; Martin (Pauline) Kienlen, daughter; Lisa (Kent) Wenz, grandchildren; Rene Gibson, John (Bre) Kienlen, Ryan Gibson, Rebecca Wenz, Justin Kienlen & Robert Wenz, great grandson; Braxton Kienlen, 1 niece and 4 nephews, and honorary family members Robert Baker and Ron Belnap, other family and friends too numerous to mention.

He was preceded in death by his parents; Arthur (1974) & Agnes (1984); brothers, Thomas Arthur (1959) Donald Jerome (2012); and his best friend; William “Pete” Whitson (2010).

John will be remembered as a hardworking, loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and most of all a friend. John was loved by many. Our loss is great, but by having this loving, kind, generous and very opinionated man in our lives we are all better people today.

One of the last things John said to Mary was “There is nothing going on here so let’s just go” and that is what he did. John passed away on November 21, 2020 at Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon at 11:05 am, at the age of 88 from complications following his stroke on November 8^th.

We all know he is sitting in a gazebo somewhere with a 2 finger drink with his best friend Pete and other family and friends who had gone before him, just waiting for to join. He has a smile on his face, saying “Here’s to a Great Life, Well Done”.

The world has lost a great man!

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