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Tim said John was a self-taught upholsterer. John upholstered cars for many people, as well as a couch, chair and some weightlifting equipment for Tim and his wife Minerva. In fact, Tim spent many happy hours at John’s house starting in 1972 when he and his own family moved into the neighborhood. “He had seven kids and we all played together,” Tim said. “It was just a really great atmosphere all the time. My mom died in 1985 and they just took me in like their own son. He was a really great guy.”
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Judy Griffin of Tennessee, one of John’s children, said her father probably said “over a 100 times” that he wished he’d given his family a “better life.” Judy said John worked “from dawn to dusk” and never took a day off. “I always told him, ‘You gave us a great life,’” Judy said. “We had a great childhood. Mom never had to work. We were always able to go camping all summer long. We camped out at the house. We played Red Rover. We had an empty lot across the street where we played baseball. We didn’t have a lot of things, but we were happy.” The results was a large extended family with many artistic talents and various abilities, she said. Some of those skills came directly from “having to do things for ourselves,” she said. “If we wanted something, we had to get a job and buy it ourselves,” Judy said. “I few wanted to keep warm in winter, we had to split firewood. None of us are afraid to work, that’s for sure.”
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John was born in Joliet and lived with his family on Collins Street until he was 6 years old. His mother had just died from cancer, so for his first day of schools, John put on the cleanest pair of socks he could find from the floor and slid into too-big shoes and an oversized jacket. But on his way to the former Lincoln School, John, embarrassed by his clothes, threw away the socks and coat in the back of Heggie Field, Judy said. A woman stopped him and asked why he wasn’t wearing socks or a coat. John said he didn’t have any. “Turns out the lady who stopped him was s social worker – or whatever they were called back then,” Judy said. “And she made a stop at the house.” Judy estimates John lived with nine siblings at home. Their father worked long hours, sometimes in Indiana. “They only had a little bit of food in the house,” Judy said. “And the house was probably a mess.” Four of the children were taken to Guardian Angel Community Services in Joliet to live, she said. Guardian Angel had an orphanage at the time. “I remember him saying how scared he was to walk through the door,” Judy said. “He felt like he was going to be stuck there for the rest of his life.” As difficult as orphanage life was for John, he did learn to read and was thankful for it, she said. Sundays, though, were the worst. Sundays were visiting days. “He would wait by the window for his dad to come,” Judy said. “He came once and never came again. He’d watch the other parents come…he felt abandoned, I guess.”
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John left Guardian Angel at age 14 and then “ran the streets and got into trouble,” Judy said. At 18, John had a choice: jail or the Army. John chose the latter, she said. After the Army, John met Joan in downtown Joliet; Joan worked at the former Woolworth. Judy said her father credited Joan with teaching him about love. "He never knew what love was until he met my mom," Judy said. They rented a little farmhouse off Spencer Road in Joliet after they were married. In 1964, they bought a house on Cayuga Street and moved into it with their six (at the time) children, Judy said.
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John had learned the art of upholstering from working at an upholstery shop on Cass Street, Joan said. After he bought the house, John started his own upholstery business out of his garage. John started with furniture and branched into car upholstery, she said. “He made specialty car interiors from scratch,” Judy said. “I don’t know how he did it. He worked for himself. He did not have any help.” Above is a car John upholstered.
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Judy said she’s never heard about anyone say a cross word about her father. “Everybody liked him,” she said. “Not too many people, if you say the name ‘Saragossa’ don’t know at least one of us.’” Judy said John filled notebooks with his life stories and “reflections on things.” John also had notebooks and tape recordings with other the stories of other local people who grew up at Guardian Angel Home, she said. He was a wonderful storyteller. "The words just flowed out of his mouth," Judy said. Judy said John got involved in karaoke after June died and agreed with Tom that John was a “wonderful whistler.” “He could whistle the most beautiful tunes with vibrato ,” Judy said. “He was this fantastic whistler and was singing all the time.” Judy said karaoke “gave something for him to do.” She was with him at Zelmo’s on Joliet the first time John got up to sing. “After that, I’d have to pry the microphone out of his hands,” Judy said. “He liked to sing Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, the songs from his era.” Above, John made the front page of The Herald-News in the 1980s. Judy said she was photographed twice for the publication. Once was when she was fishing in a pond in Pilcher Park near the statue of the park's fouinder, Robert Pilcher. The second was when she was riding a unicycle.
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Jan Nahorski of Joliet said he met John through karaoke because Jan used to sing karaoke, too, he said. John had three signature songs, Jan said. One was "For the Good Times," made famous by Dean Martin. The second was a Mexican song, "Bésame Mucho." "But his number one song that everybody knew from him was Willie Nelsons, 'You Were Always on My Mind,'" Jan said. As Jan got to know John, Jan became impressed with John's resiliency and his skills, John sharpened a set of knives for Jan. And John was proud to be an Army veteran. “He was a calm, collected man that just rolled with the punches,” John said. “He was very appreciative of anything done for him.” As John grew older, he became uncomfortable with driving, so Jan would transport him to and from karaoke, Jan said. That included grabbing a bite to eat after the singing, at whatever place was still open at midnight or 1 a.m., Jan said. Above, John is pictured with his granddaughter Danyele.
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Jan didn't mind. He enjoyed John's company and Jan's own parents had instilled in Jan a sense of treating everyone well, Jan said. And it was certainly the way Jan would want people to treat his parents if they were alive, he added. But his kindness to John, above and beyond their friendship, had another layer to it. "John was my chance to give something back to an Army veteran," Jan said. John was 85 when he died Sept. 5. His obituary said he worked up until age 80. • To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com. (All photos)