John Richard Gembreska

John Richard Gembreska, 75, went home to the Father Almighty on Good Friday, April 18, 2025 at 6:20p while in the care of Compassus Hospice. He struggled for 15 years with respiratory issues and ultimately died of COPD. His passing was very peaceful with the help of Dr. Kingston and the nursing staff at Christus St. Vincent’s and nurse Marianna of Compassus.

John is survived by his wife of 46 years, Anita (nee Richner) Gembreska, daughter Christina Su (Julio) Ramirez, grandson John Adam Ledezma (Luzinda), great grandchildren, Emilia, Dimitri, Liam, and Johnathan; and grandson Micheal Ramirez.

John was born in Chieti, Italy November of 1949. Named Giovanni Eledano, he was given up by his mother at birth to a Catholic orphanage where he was raised until the age of six years at which time he was adopted through Catholic Charities by a loving couple, James and Katherine (nee Hoffman) to Toledo, Ohio. He became a naturalized citizen some three years later and was given the name John Richard by his new parents. He grew up in Toledo, attending Regina Coeli grade school and Macomber Vocational Technical High school where he learned electronics.

After graduating high school in 1968, he started working with Ohio Bell Telephone as a lineman, installing, repairing and replacing cable for telecommunications. In 1969, during the Vietnam Conflict, John was called up by the selective service, and enlisted in the U.S. Army while retaining his employment status with Ohio Bell. He received his basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and was given the assignment of telecommunication lineman in the Panama Canal Zone. He married his first wife, Linda Butz in 1970, who would join him in Panama. There were many occasions of replacing sections of cable in the jungle that had been cut out by the native people for the copper. They explored the canal zone going from the Gulf of Mexico, so named at that time, to the Pacific Ocean in a day as the isthmus is 60-some miles wide.

They returned to the U.S. in November 1971 at which time he was honorably discharged from the Army in St. Louis, Missouri. He and his wife settled in Toledo, Ohio, where he returned to work for Ohio Bell, and they began to plan a family. A daughter was born to them in 1973, Christina. They separated and divorced in 1974. While John would marry a second time, the third marriage would be the lasting one, to Anita. Meeting in 1976, John and Anita were together when he joined the Ohio Air National Guard for a 1-year stint, helping with the developing of gun or bomb

running footage. During the guard’s two-week training in Alpena, Michigan, John proposed to Anita. By 1978 they made plans to go west using the Bell System transfer plan. They married in July 1978 after John’s transfer request to Santa Fe was accepted, moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico, sight unseen. Adjusting to the altitude was difficult, but they eventually settled into their new life together in a new and different environment.

John was involved with the telephone workers union, CWA, and served as president of the Local for three or four years. He remained with the company for seventeen years before retiring. Working at Carrow’s restaurant for a short time, John was able to feed his love for coffee. He was a real coffee hound, finding all the places where one could sit in the early morning hours or late nights when one couldn’t get back to sleep.

John always had a love of fishing and kept his rod and tackle in the trunk of his car if he was ever out in the country and a creek was in sight. Summers were for softball and he played until he broke his ankle sliding into second base. Bowling, playing pool, photography and developing his own film for prints or slides, ham radio and anything electronic were his leisure activities as well as being with his grandsons and taking road trips by car or motorcycle. He loved to watch his daughter barrel race, and was proud of the woman she had become. It was easy for him to strike up a conversation or to make light of a situation to ease the tension. As the years went on and his smoking habit caught up with him, John developed emphysema, later COPD. Epilepsy showed up from early childhood trauma in Italy, and Type 2 diabetes. He pushed through each illness but the combination of them took a toll on his body, making it more difficult to get around. Homebound for the final year, John’s outings were reduced to doctor visits, or hospital stays when the COPD flared up, each episode making him weaker. The hospice care that he received in his final days gave him much needed comfort from the endless coughing and labored breathing or feeling starved for oxygen so that he was able to slip peacefully from the realms of this world.

Rivera Family Funeral home is providing cremation services. The visitation and rosary will be held Thursday May 8, 2025 in the Kiva room at their location, 417 Rodeo Rd, Santa Fe from 4 PM to 6 PM, with rosary and eulogy from 6-7 PM.

On Friday. May 9, 2025, a Mass will be held at 11 AM at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, at 1301 Osage Ave, Santa Fe, with

internment at 12:30 PM at The National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Catholic charities or your favorite charities in memory of John.