Official: From the Whitehead Family,

It is with a heavy heart we announce the passing of our father, John. He passed Tuesday, January 23 2018.  It has come as a great shock to his friends and family, and even up until the end, Dad was always determined and willing to lend out a helping hand. He has accomplished so many things over his life that we like to joke to say that he was a brother of Jimmy Buffett. He was a pilot, Chef, loved the ocean and his way of life was the island way. Not to mention he was an extremely proud Grandfather and one of a kind babysitter that would move the world for MacKenzie and Logan.

He was one hell of a man and I know that the impact that he had on so many people's lives. We will never forget the wonderful ways that John (Dad) made this world a better place. One trip to Home Depot at a time…

Anna ( Wife) The first day we met I knew you were the man I was going to marry. For 40 years you made our life adventurous and there was never a dull moment from the day you worked as a commuter pilot to the catering manager at Kennywood Amusement Park. You lived life to the fullest and made me do as well. You Are the wind beneath my wings. You are my rock. You are my Life.

You convinced me to travel across country with you and 5 cats pulling a travel trailer. I thought you were nuts but I went along for the ride. Oh boy what a ride. You helped me see things I thought I would never see in my lifetime.  I thank you for that. Yes you were right, again, as usual. You also convinced me to move from Pennsylvania to Florida. Something I thought I would never do. After arriving in Florida I absolutely knew why. Our two grandchildren were the apple of your eye and your heart. You were the best babysitter and enjoyed every moment of it.

You helped make two beautiful children . I know for a fact, our two sons have become great men because of the man who you were, caring and hardworking. I know you were so very proud of them and would do anything for them. I know Dad was their favorite but I understood. Someone had to be the "bad guy".  You had a heart of gold for all who crossed your path.

I know our 3 cats will miss your love and attention. Yes, Toodles will get his office.

You were my backbone and I can't imagine life without you. I love you and always will. May God grant you eternal peace.

David; ( Son) Brush it off..You will be fine. That was my dad's motto. Ever since I was a kid he coached me to be the best version of myself. No matter what the obstacle, there was always a solution. From learning how to ski, to learning how to fly a plane, to learning to hit a baseball, he was always right beside me to see me through.

As I got my first job, he ended up being my boss. We worked together in the catering business at Kennywood.  No matter how many burgers I burned, he also had a lesson or a "this is how I would do it" moment, which at the time drove me crazy, but later on I would come to realize that he was right. I also realized that he wasn't just a boss, but a true leader.

One of my favorite things that he taught me was how to use my expansive imagination…He loved photography and naturally I took a liking to the hobby as well. I have so many memories of us working together on how to take the perfect photo. I remember always looking for his feedback and approval on a photo I had just edited and produced just to see if I could impress him. Out of all the talents he taught me, using my imagination and always think outside the box on taking an ordinary photo really shaped the way that I look at everything in life.

He thought me how to stay organized and keep calm while cooking for 10,000 people at a time. Later down the road this would help me grow to be the leader I am today while working for the Walt Disney company. We would always joke about how many people we could feed by ourselves and it always seemed to be a friendly competition. I swear the number grew overtime every time we brought it up!

His passion for making others happy rubbed off on me and as I grew, I knew that putting others first was more satisfying than being satisfied.

All the way up till his last day, he was there to coach me on everyday life. Any time that I had a question about installing a new light switch to installing shelving units in the garage, he was there with his tool kit. Sometimes I thought that he was just really happy to have an excuse to go to Home Depot again.

The lessons that he taught me shaped the way I care for my family. I would do anything for them, just as how he did for us. He meant the world to me and my family. Watching him play with the kids always brought me back to the days when he would play with my brother and I.

I thank God everyday that I was lucky enough to find someone like KayDee so early in life and were able to have two wonderful children that would bring pure love and light into my father's life. I will never forget all of the stories of how he, MacKenzie and Logan would be taking a walk to the park, swimming in his pool or just waving down the people driving the construction vehicles to beep at them. He was a kid at heart and you could tell the pure child in him would come out everytime they would come around.

I love my father more than words can ever say. To me, my dad was a coach, a leader, a Imagineer, a photographer and one hell of a father. I only hope that I can be half of what he was…..I love you dad...

Mike; (Son) "You can build it, we can help". Now, this use to be the old slogan for Home Depot, one of my Dad's favorite stores to go to whenever he was working on his latest construction project. But, it wasn't only that, I also feel that this is a great metaphor for the relationship I had with my Dad. Anything I wanted to do as I grew up he would always be there for me. If I wanted to build it, he would help.

He taught me how to kick a soccer ball, he taught me how to hit a baseball, but most importantly, he taught me how to live. And with his help, I built myself a wonderful life, and I couldn't have done that without him or his amazing wife (and my mother) Anna.

My Dad loved my mom dearly and he set such an outstanding example for how a father should love and care for his family. To this day, I am a better person because of the examples he set for me.

It may seem odd to compare my Dad's relationship with me in the form of a Home Depot slogan, and his life is much-much more than I have time to cover. Though, how do you even summarize the life of a man? To me, the answer is you can't. A man that flew planes, managed large gatherings, and provided good laughs to his loved ones. These are all things you can't just form one little phrase of meaning around.  All you can do is hold on to the memories he left you and cling to the interest of his being. And for me, I will always be reminded of his smile and the words of his voice when he told me, "You can do anything you set your mind to, Michael", and to this day I will never forget that.

No matter what comes after this life, all I know is, wherever my Dad is... "It's 5 o'clock somewhere".

Marie;(Sister-in-law) John Whitehead. A man with many faces. A great husband, father, Uncle and most of all a great grandfather. He would never say no,if you asked for his help. Sometimes you never had to ask. He worked hard. Sometimes the hours were long but he never gave up! He believed in hard work and his life reflected it. Jim & I have many fond memories. I will never forget the time when we were traveling with the Whitehead family. We were in one of their full size vans traveling down the highway with a full size luggage carrier mounted on top of the van. John was driving 60-65 mph and suddenly the luggage carrier flew off! Needless to say we stopped about a mile down the road and John gets out of the car and starts running down the side of the highway to retrieve the carrier. Here we are three kids and my sister and I sitting in the van yelling at John to return! Fortunately, the carrier had fallen on the side of the road. We laugh about it now but we were not laughing back then. But we all survived!! We loved John as a brother and a friend. There could not be a better one, This one is for you John! WHO KNEW? You will be missed terribly!! May God Bless You and may you Rest In Peace! ☦️

Kathy;(Niece) We always knew he was coming by the sound of multiple keys jingling!! "Oh yes, Uncle John is here"! He always comes through with the best pictures, capturing every moment of joy…he was part of ALL of our moments of joy. At every one of my life events, from my birthday's to my wedding. At all of my kids events…t-ball, soccer, dance, and kindergarten graduations! He played such an important role in our lives, more then we could have ever expected from an Uncle. Godfather to my daughter….a second father to me. There was never a moment we didn't share a great laugh when Uncle John was around. Thank you for teaching me that life is too short not to laugh and enjoy EVERY moment. There will never be a day that goes by that we don't think of you and smile. Oh and by the way, the water park was by the McDonalds in Erie!!!

Aidan; (Godson) "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle" I would hear after I knocked on the door of Aunt Anna and Uncle Johns house.  That's when I knew Uncle was approaching the door because Aunt Anna didn't have five thousand keys on her keyring.

Whenever we would go to church and Uncle John would sit down on that hard wooden pew, everyone would turn around and stare because it sounded like a car crash when he sat down because all of his five thousand keys would hit the pew and echo through the whole church.

I'll never forget that one time when we went to Disney World close to Christmas time, because everyone, especially little kids, would ask to take pictures with him because they thought he was Santa Claus.  He was dressed in all red, including a Mickey-eared Santa hat and his full white beard.  Even I wasn't sure that he wasn't Santa Claus.

I think forever, that every time I see a Santa Claus or hear the jingle of an overloaded key ring, I will always think of Uncle John.

I love you Uncle John!