John “Jack” Minogue was an Irishman, through and through.
“He loved St. Patrick’s Day, really looked forward to it,” said his wife, Nancy, 71. “He’d dress up in his green suspenders and his green hat and celebrate.”
An energetic and friendly man, he directed his talents toward helping others. He was deeply involved in the Rock Memorial American Legion Post 283 in Imperial, and instrumental in developing several charitable programs there.
“That was a lot of his life,” his wife said, “and he was proud of that.”
John Gerald Minogue died Feb. 2 at Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City at age 81 following a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
“His parents came over from Ireland,” Nancy said. “His father died in his 40s of pneumonia, and his mother went to work as a cook for Father Dunn’s Children’s Home in St. Louis. So he was kind of raised in that atmosphere.”
Mr. Minogue attended St. Louis University High School, but left before graduation to enter the Navy with his brother.
“He served in Korea,” Nancy said. “He was in for four years – he was a bosun’s mate on a ship.”
One evening, he and a fellow sailor went off the ship for a little adventure.
“They had a little libation, shall we say,” Nancy said with a laugh, “and they decided to get a tattoo. They told the artist they wanted something nobody else had.”
Mr. Minogue ended up with a large Popeye the Sailor tattoo on his calf.
“They had the artist tear up the design, so they’d be the only ones to have it,” Nancy said. His mother found out about the tattoo the hard way.
“After he got home (from Korea), he was sleeping on the couch or bed or whatever, and she went to cover him up with a blanket. He said she let out a great big scream.”
Once back from the military, Mr. Minogue went to work for Royal Typewriter in St. Louis. He was married, and the couple adopted two children.
“Later on, he went to work in Arnold for Charles Becker at his office supply and repair shop,” Nancy said. “They had contracts with several of the school districts in the area; they repaired their typewriters for many years.
“Later he and Charlie split up and Jack started his own business, Jeffco Office Supply. He had three locations: one in Fox Valley, one off Hwy. 141 across from where the Pasta House is now, and one in Imperial across from Harter Bakery.”
One of the most important aspects of Mr. Minogue’s life was his involvement with the American Legion.
“He ran the bingo for many years, which brought in a lot of money for them,” Nancy said. “They’d have barbecues to bring in money. The Legion would buy presents and he’d take them out to the Evergreen Children’s Home. They provided help for people who had lost their homes in fires.
“The post had a program where they would select a person each year who was going to nursing school and they’d pay their tuition. He was real proud of that.”
Mr. Minogue had a passion for politics. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Arnold, and later ran for county commissioner. He served as president of the county Democratic Club and was active in the early efforts to bring charter government to the county.
“He did love to talk and argue politics,” his wife said. “I think it may have been the Irish in him.”
Mr. Minogue, by now divorced, met fellow divorcee Nancy in the late 1980s. They were married in 1990, and built a home in rural Hillsboro.
“I retired in 2005 and we moved to Farmington,” she said. “He sold the business and retired, but he kept working part-time selling office supplies.”
Around this time the first signs of dementia began to appear.
“He like to never gave up working,” Nancy said. “He should have at least a year sooner than he did. But it’s what he’d known all his life, and that’s what he was comfortable doing.”
Mr. Minogue was diagnosed in 2007 with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
“It is one of the most curable cancers, but it involved the harshest chemo,” Nancy said. “It seemed to trigger dementia. By the time he’d had his second dose, his mind started changing.”
In July 2012, he underwent surgery to repair spinal stenosis, and the results were drastic.
“When he woke up, he was never the same,” his wife said. “I researched it afterward, and found out that people who have dementia, when they go under deep anesthesia, it makes them much worse.”
Mr. Minogue went to a rehab center, then to a nursing home, and was finally able to return home for a time.
“It slowly got worse. I took care of him a year longer than I probably should have,” Nancy said. “There was nothing in his muscles that prevented him; the dementia just caused him to forget how to do things. He had hallucinations, and he got so physically weak.”
Nancy said she thinks her husband would want to be remembered for his generosity, his sunny disposition and his outspokenness.
“He had a good sense of humor, some great jokes. He loved to tease people,” she said. “And he’d want to be known for being a man who said what he thinks.”
“Life Story,” posted each Saturday on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.