John H. Walzl Obituary
John Henry Walzl, Jr. was born on October 23, 1942 to John Henry and Catherine Mable (Horgan) Walzl in Kansas City, Missouri. John went to be with Jesus on September 25, 2021. He was 78 years old. A wrong phone number led to a 58 year marriage to Mary Vincent (Huber) Walzl (Vincie). John proudly served his country by joining the Air Force from October 1961 through June 1965 (3 years, 8 months and 7 days as he always said). John served in Homestead, Florida in SAC (Strategic Air Command) working as Assistant Crew Chief on B-52's, and as Crew Chief on C-130's in Naha, Okinawa. John retired from TWA in Kansas City, Missouri after 28 years. During his time at TWA, he did numerous jobs; he always wanted to learn more. This included overhauling and testing Rolls Royce fuel flow regulators, working in and was the lead mechanic in the sheet metal shop, designing a new method of removing tail pipes, and was one of 38 people in the world that could successfully overhaul and test a Lucas fuel control, which has thousands of parts.
John always wanted to live on a farm and in 1972 his dream came true when he and his wife purchased a 100-acre farmstead in Breckenridge, Missouri and lived there with their 4 daughters. While at the farm, they raised their family and enjoyed living the farm life; being able to have chickens, cows and a special beloved Guernsey milk cow named Buttercup. He also loved gardening and had a 1-acre thriving garden. He was always so happy that he was able to teach his children to love the country and be able to live off of the land.
Another one of John's passions was shooting. He not only taught his wife and daughters to shoot, but was able to build all of their competition rifles. He won the Distinguished Rifleman Award (one of roughly 1, 000 Civilians to have received this award since 1884), and he and his family traveled the country shooting in high power rifle competitions for over 10 years. It was one of the most enjoyable times of his life as he and his family were able to participate in this unique sport together. He was very passionate about his family life and everything was done together from attending church to working on cars, airplanes, gardening, guns, cooking and anything in between.
After retirement, John and his wife Vincie moved back to the farm and lived there again for 13 years. He loved being in nature, going for walks and enjoying the warmth of a wood stove; he was able to spend time gardening and training his beloved Chocolate Lab Molly.
In 2007 he got to live another dream! He and his wife Vincie moved to Eureka, Nevada to manage the Eureka County Airport. He and Vincie lived at the airport for 14 years. They made lifelong friends, met interesting people, saw many different airplanes and were able to work on numerous fun and diverse airplane projects. He loved the view of the mountains and being able to help people with their airplanes and the more difficult a project the more he loved it.
A man of deep faith, John dearly loved Jesus, his family, and his country. He was deeply proud of his country and was blessed to have been able to serve in the military. He never missed an opportunity to tell anyone listening of how the Lord had blessed him and his family throughout his life. He was such a family man and wanted his daughters to have deep faith and to know Jesus, know the value of hard work and giving back, how it is better to give than receive. He was and will always be our hero and will be forever missed. John is survived by his wife of 58 years Mary Vincent (Huber) Walzl; 4 daughters Jane Smith (Mike), Joanie Conaway, Jeanie Schmidt (David), and Jennifer Walzl; 2 grandchildren Victoria Conaway, Andrew Conaway, and 1 great granddaughter, 3 siblings, many nieces, nephews, and other family members.
Services for John will be announced at a later date and will take place in Kansas City, Missouri.
