We lost Johnny ... Deggesty ..

[Miningman]

John Bolling Degges
December 13, 1935 ~ July 29, 2020
John Bolling Degges died July 29, 2020, a victim of the COVID-19 Pandemic. He was born December 13, 1935, in Tampa, Florida to Francis Tucker Degges and Margaret McIlwaine Degges. Married Patricia Harley Ward July 14, 1972, in Boise, Idaho. He served thirteen years as a Presbyterian minister and then worked thirty-one years for National/Fairchild Semiconductor. Survived by his children Katherine Ward, Chester C. Ward, and Virginia B. Ward, along with nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Ricki, and his brothers, Francis M. Degges, William C. Degges, Meade F. Degges, Gifford B. Degges, and Thomas C. Degges. The family wishes to thank Noemi of Summit Home Health and all the staff at Capitol Hill Senior Living for their tender care in this terrible time. A lifetime of thank-yous goes out to the staff on Amtrak Passenger trains who introduced Johnny to Ricki and assisted Johnny with many happy hours of train travel over the years. 
Services will be held on-line though St. John's Lutheran Church on August 7, 2020 at 10:00 am. (The link is available upon request from the family). Interment at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 1350 E. 500 South. Services are entrusted to Starks Funeral Parlor. Please share your memories and photos with the family at www.starksfuneral.com.

 

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 Last Posting 

Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, July 8, 2020 8:12 AM

 

 

Overmod

 

 

Deggesty

You serve grits with pork sausage or bacon (perhaps also with eggs) at breakfast.

 

 

You're not from South Carolina or Georgia.  Breakfast shrimp is a big thing there.

 

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/southern-shrimp-and-grits/

 

 

 

 

Perhaps in the Low Country, but not in the Up Country (above the fall line). I grew up in South Carolina, 50 miles south of Charlotte, North Carolina.

 

 

Johnnyh

http://www.starksfuneral.com/obituary/2445-pspzqoszpt

 

 

[BaltACD]

RIP Johnny - you will be missed.

[NorthWest]

That's not good news, at all.

I was lucky to meet him at an Amtrak station a few years ago.

Quite the gentleman.

[Flintlock76]

Heartbreaking news.  I'm going to miss Johnny, a true Southern gentleman of the old school.  

Ride easy on the "Night Train" Johnny, you will be missed!

[pennytrains]

Rest peacefully sir.

[Jones1945]

Rest in peace, Johnny. 

[SD70Dude]

I always enjoyed his stories about the way the world was.  

RIP.

[Miningman]

Johnny's  Service at Funeral ... quite nice 

https://stjohnslutheranslc.org/2020/08/06/funeral-service-for-john-bolling-degges-8-7-2020/

 

[Miningman]

 

Excerpt from Salt Lake Tribune

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/08/04/utahs-new-covid-cases/

Sunday marked the deadliest week in Utah since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, with 37 deaths in a seven-day span, breaking last week’s record of 32.

John B. Degges, who died July 29 after contracting COVID-19, was one of those patients. The 84-year-old was a resident of Capitol Hill Care Center at 76 S. 500 East in Salt Lake City, who contracted the virus there, said his granddaughter, Jackie Morgan.

 

(Photo courtesy of Jackie Morgan) John Degges sits aboard a train in this undated photo. Degges died July 29, 2020, in Salt Lake City after contracting COVID-19, his family says.

 

Capitol Hill is among the long-term care facilities currently listed by the Utah Department of Health as having an outbreak. Morgan said her family isn’t upset at Capitol Hill, saying employees there provided care for her grandfather even as the virus reduced the number of staff.

“We feel really, really grateful for the care he received in the facility,” Morgan said.

Degges worked as a Presbyterian minister in Alabama, Mississippi and Utah, and later for a Salt Lake City company making semiconductors. But his real passion wasn’t semiconductors, said his daughter Katie Ward — it was trains.

“That was one of my father’s jokes,” Ward said, “that he wanted to be a train conductor and got halfway there.”

He loved taking train across the country. Ward said Degges met her mother on a train near Boise, Idaho. Morgan said her grandfather got dressed up for every train trip.

“He put on a suit and tie,” Morgan said, “and tipped his hat to every person he met on his train trips.”

 

[rcdrye]

A great loss for us.  Johnny was a big part of what makes this forum so enjoyable.

[daveklepper]

Thanks, Miningman, for posting the photo.  Copied into my hard drive and will print and frame and wall-mount at the right time.

[Miningman]

Posted by Deggesty on Monday, June 8, 2020 8:13 PM

 

      Lithonia Operator

      Johnny, how do you pronounce your last name? …

 

How to pronounce it? As one syllable, rhyming with a favorite breakfast food of many. The "ty" on the end is the abbreviation of "the Younger" which was a distinction certain friends in college gave me; the common address they used was simply "Younger." My brother was known to them as "Kindly"--short for "Kindly Old Uncle Tommy Degges," and he was known as "Kindly." The proper abbreviation of my name "t/y."

When my immigrant ancestor came to Virginia in 1675, there was no "s" at the end; some time in the first third of the 19th century, the "s" was added; I know of no explanation. My wife's comment about the name was, "If you hear it, you cannot spell it, and if you read it, you cannot pronounce it."

Once, I was talking with a friend who continually said "Diggs"--until I asked him if he ate iggs for breakfast--and he was embarassed. I have heard some other mispronunciations. People see unfamiliar names, and think they know how to pronounce them.

Johnny

 

[pennytrains]

Easier than "ynysybwyl". 

[Overmod]

pennytrains

Easier than "ynysybwyl".

I can see that.  Is it easier than 'ynysybwl' too?

[Flintlock76]

pennytrains

Easier than "ynysybwyl". 

 

Isn't that a town in the Ukraine?  

[Miningman]

Nope.. jolly old England.

[Overmod]

Miningman

Nope.. jolly old England.

You realize, of course, that the Welsh might torture you before killing you for that statement...

[Miningman]

Yikes... ok, jolly old Great Britain .... naw that doesn't work. Ok Wales then. Of course I should have been more geographically correct. 

[Overmod]

Miningman

Of course I should have been more geographically correct.

Geographically you are perfectly correct: what is the current heir presumptive [note, speaking of true gaffes, the corrected term given below -- he is indeed the 'heir apparent' and the difference is significant!] to the English throne titled?

It's ethnically correct you were not.  (Now I am channelling one of my favorite characters from childhood, Jones the Steam... Vince, you can be Mr. Dinwiddy...)

[Miningman]

Come on man. Everyone knows I'm prone to gaffes. 

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

He's the heir apparent, not the heir presumptive, and he's Charles, the Prince of Wales.

[Miningman]

Letters and Articles from Johnny:

 

https://ia800401.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/3/items/presbyterianjour21tayl/presbyterianjour21tayl_jp2.zip&file=presbyterianjour21tayl_jp2/presbyterianjour21tayl_0698.jp2&id=presbyterianjour21tayl&scale=2&rotate=0  letter 1962

 

https://ia800208.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/24/items/southernpresbyte23tayl/southernpresbyte23tayl_jp2.zip&file=southernpresbyte23tayl_jp2/southernpresbyte23tayl_0971.jp2&id=southernpresbyte23tayl&scale=2&rotate=0 article 1965

 

https://ia800208.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/24/items/southernpresbyte23tayl/southernpresbyte23tayl_jp2.zip&file=southernpresbyte23tayl_jp2/southernpresbyte23tayl_0983.jp2&id=southernpresbyte23tayl&scale=2&rotate=0  continued

 

https://ia800702.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/29/items/presbyterianjour1971tayl/presbyterianjour1971tayl_jp2.zip&file=presbyterianjour1971tayl_jp2/presbyterianjour1971tayl_0383.jp2&id=presbyterianjour1971tayl&scale=2&rotate=0 letter 1971

 

https://ia802502.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/12/items/presbyterianjour1974tayl/presbyterianjour1974tayl_jp2.zip&file=presbyterianjour1974tayl_jp2/presbyterianjour1974tayl_0034.jp2&id=presbyterianjour1974tayl&scale=2&rotate=0 letter 1974

 

https://ia802608.us.archive.org/BookReader/BookReaderImages.php?zip=/12/items/presbyterianjour1986tayl/presbyterianjour1986tayl_jp2.zip&file=presbyterianjour1986tayl_jp2/presbyterianjour1986tayl_0398.jp2&id=presbyterianjour1986tayl&scale=2&rotate=0 letter 1986

 

[Flintlock76]

I got those from "Magic Mike" myself this morning (HOW does he find this stuff?) and found it interesting reading.  Johnny was quite the thinker, and took his duties as a Presbyterian minister very seriously.