John "Johnny" Kutner Levy December 17, 1919 - March 30, 2016
John ("Johnny") Kutner Levy passed away Wednesday, March 30, 2016 in
Houston due to complications from multiple myeloma. He was 96 years
old.
John was born December 17, 1919 in Bronx, New York and grew up in
Brooklyn, New York, graduated from Erasmus Hall High School, and
briefly attended Brooklyn College.
He started out working in his father’s neighborhood grocery store in
Brooklyn, and then followed his father to work at the New York
Paramount Theater.
He was a Veteran of World War II, Pacific Theater of Operations (Iwo
Jima), with the rank of Technician Fifth Grade (Corporal) in the Army Air
Corps, Signal Corps.
He was a noncombatant, but combat still went on all around him. He, like
many of the Greatest Generation, didn’t like to recount those
experiences, except to describe his record-taking of encoded weather
data sent via Morse Code for the pilots who used the airstrip on the
island.
While training with the Army, in Port Arthur, Texas, he met Moselle, the
love of his life. They kept in touch throughout his service, writing
letters every day, and they married shortly after he returned, on July 14,
1946 in Port Arthur.
In Port Arthur, John joined the family jewelry business as a retail
jewelry merchant, first at the Gem Jewelry Company with his father-in-law,
the founder of the corporation, and later, he started his own store,
a branch of the old chain, which became the Jay Jewelry Company of
Orange , Texas . He retired in 1993.
John always had a smile on his face and compassion in his heart. No
matter what, he always had kind words for all and concern for others
above himself. He was a sharp thinker, and remained so until his last
days, continuing to solve the daily Jumble puzzle in the newspaper. His
compassion, love, and wise counsel will be sorely missed.
John is predeceased by his wife of 50 years Moselle Jacobs Levy, his beloved
parents, Samuel Kutner Levy and May Weill Levy, and his sister Muriel Levy
Weiner and her husband Dr. Jacob (“Jack”) Weiner. John is also predeceased by
his beloved parents-in-laws, Jacob ("Jay") Jacobs and Hadassah Sadovsky Jacobs, his sister-in-law Gloria Jacobs Sherman and her husband Robert ("Bob") M. Sherman; and John's son-in-law, Staff Sgt. Michael Pope, USAF (Ret.).
Those missing him include his children: son Joel Kutner Levy and daughter-in-law
Judith ("Judi") Frumin Levy, Joel's and Judi's children and John's cherished grandchildren
Daniel Kutner Levy and Maureen Ellen Levy; son Jay E. Levy and daughter-in-law
Peggy Kissinger Levy; and daughter Jan Levy Pope; niece Amy Weiner
Jacobson and her husband Edward Jacobson; niece Judith ("Judi") Sherman; nephew Dr.
Howard Weiner and his wife Esther Brodsky Weiner; nephew Jeffrey Jay
Sherman and his wife Bonnie Neiman Sherman; and nephew Bruce Alan Sherman.
He was a lifelong Mason, member of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry,
and a Shriner. He was also a 50-year member of the Rotary
International chapter of Orange, Texas, and past president of that organization; a long-
time member of the North Port Arthur Lions Club; and a long-time member
of B’nai Brith.
He was a member of Temple Rodef Shalom, Port Arthur, Texas, until its
dissolution, and then of Temple Emanuel in Beaumont, Texas.
Most heartfelt thanks are offered to those who provided such loving
care for him during these past difficult days: Paul Holoye, MD; Susan
Williams, MD; Victor Narcisse, III MD; and their staffs, especially Sue
and Kathy at Dr. Holoye’s office; Griselda and Laura of Onlex Home
Health; the staffs at the Gardens of Bellaire, Houston Northwest
Hospital, the Methodist Hospital Intensive Care Unit, and the staff of
Kindred Hospital, Medical Center.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM, April 3, 2016, at Clayton-Thompson Funeral
Directors, 5200 39Th St., Groves, Texas 77619. Interment will follow at
Greenlawn Memorial Park, Groves TX 77619 (around the corner from the funeral home).
Rabbi Joshua Taub of Temple Emanuel, Beaumont, Texas will officiate, with additional Masonic
graveside rites.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his memory
to charities most close to your heart, or to the Leukemia
Lymphoma (and Myeloma) Society, either of the Shriners’ Hospitals (Houston or Galveston),
the American Cancer Society, or to Temple Emanuel in Beaumont, Texas.