My Uncle Marvin died peacefully in his own bed in his apartment at 900 Lincoln Club Dr, Pittsburgh, PA, at 11:11 AM, where he had lived since March 2010. He had apparently had a massive stroke eight days previously and was unable to talk or swallow afterwards. His wishes to not be taken to a hospital to die were honored.
He was born in Suburban Hospital, just a couple blocks from the house he was raised in at 316 McKinley Ave in Avalon. He lived there with his grandparents and parents and his growing family, but by the time his brother was born in 1929, they had moved to Oklahoma, leaving his grandparents there by themselves.
By the early 1930s his parents had bought the McKinley Ave house from his grandparents, and he lived there until 1969. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps towards the end of WWII and spent 16 months in Italy, mostly demolishing planes and other equipment. Back home he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
He got a job with Mesta Machine, and worked there for 30 years. He went to night school and got a Masters Degree in M.E. and passed the test to become a Professional Engineer. His sister tried to get him to go to work for U.S. Steel whenever they were hiring engineers through the years, but he preferred to stay where he was. In 1969 he and his parents sold the McKinley Ave house and bought a house at 120 Siebert Rd. He retired in 1981, just as soon as he was eligible for his pension.
A little over a year before he died he told me that he had always hoped to get married and have a family, but that he had never met the right woman, so it never happened. While sitting with him during the last week of his life, my aunt told me that another big factor for neither of them ever marrying was the mess of a marriage their younger brother had. Betty said that she had heard Marvin say many times that he would never have stood for the crap that Bob put up with for so many years.
He was an avid photographer and had his own darkroom, making black and white prints and enlargements from pictures he had taken as well as from old negatives of various family photos. He built many electronic devices from Heath Kits, including TVs and an organ. He loved classical music, and had a very extensive collection of record albums of many of the classics. He got rid of most of his "stuff" in garage sales in the 1990s, and stuck to listening to WQED on his BOSE radio after that.
In retirement, and especially after my grandmother died, he became more interested in Family History, and began visiting the cemeteries where so many of our ancestors are buried. He sent me many pictures of gravestones through the 1990s, but not until I retired myself in 2006 did I really become interested. I'm so glad that he lived as long as he did, so that he could answer many of my questions concerning so many people in the family.
And perhaps the most amazing thing he did was get a violin at age 84 and play again, after not having played since High School! He performed at some birthday parties and at Christmas in the Assisted Living facility where he spent his last years. And just a few days before he died, his arms were trying to move to play along with his Itzhak Perlman CD! I have a one-minute recording of him playing in the summer of 2011, which I will try to post on a flower so others can hear him play.
Here are a few more details which he himself wrote in a letter to his nephew Rob in May 2002:
I graduated from high school in June 1944 (on D Day). The prior summer of 1943 when I was 16 Dad got me a job at American Bridge Co as a taper. This consisted of putting tape on all the joints of the insulation. No great skill required but I was only 16 and only worked that summer, going back to school in the fall. Companies needed all the bodies they could get due to the war. The man next door was a Navy inspector and he took me on a Saturday to the docks and got on board an LST they were launching. It was interesting to ride a ship down on launching. I always wondered what happened to some of the LSTs I worked on. (LST=Landing Ship Tank)
During my senior year I enlisted in the Army Air Force. On graduation I went to work again at American Bridge. I was called into the service in February 1945 and at that time the war was almost over and they did not need flight crews. I became an airplane (B-17) mechanic and early in 1946 was shipped to Italy. I was stationed at Foggia just for maintenance as there were very few planes flying. Actually they were destroying the existing planes. I came home in December 1946, after 22 months in the service.
I wanted to go to college and become a mechanical engineer. My grades in school were good but could not start school at University of Pittsburgh until February 1948 because of all the applications. While a senior in high school I took a course in "Celestial Navigation" at the Buhl Planetarium. Since I went to Pitt under the G I Bill I had to go straight through, no summers off. I graduated in February 1951 and in my last year received a scholarship from Mesta Machine. I received $75 a month but they paid no tuition fee as I went under the G I Bill. There was no obligation either way but they might offer me a job which I could accept or not. I maintained a B average and joined Pi Tau Sigma, an honorary (at least a B average) Mechanical Engineering fraternity. This was not a party club as the G I s were older and not into that sort of thing. I also joined Sigma Tau, an honorary engineering fraternity with no partying and I don't remember any meetings.
I started work at Mesta Machine Company in Feb 1951. I worked in the shop for 18 months as part of their training then moved up into the engineering department. I was placed in the "Mill Engineering" department. They designed the rolling mills that rolled steel, either hot or cold. In Feb 1952 I began going to night school at Pitt and graduated in June 1955 with a Master of Science in mechanical engineering. Since I was up in my engineering studies I took the tests to become a "Professional Engineer" in early 1956 and I passed. I also took the "Engineer in Training" test which some states required so I had reciprocity in most of the states. I passed and did this as I had no idea where I might be working in the future. TRW expressed an interest but nothing developed.
In later years I became a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer. I worked on the rolling mills primarily but did design gear drives. I retired in February 1981. I did have some interesting things happen which I will relate later.
--------------
From a Pittsburgh newspaper:
MINTEER JAMES MARVIN
Of Avalon and Ross Twp., on Monday, December 10, 2012. Son of the late Harold J. and Ethel L. Minteer; brother of Betty Loraine Minteer and the late Robert Lee Minteer; also survived by four nephews and their families. Known as Marvin to his family and Jim to friends, he earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. A registered engineer in Pennsylvania, Jim retired from Mesta Machine. He was a WWII veteran of the US Army Air Corps, and a 50 year member of both the Shriners and the McKinley Stuckrath Lodge No. 318 F&AM. Friends received Wednesday 10 a.m. until time of service 11 a.m. at the ORION C. PINKERTON FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1014 California Ave., Avalon, 412-766-5600. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations suggested to the Minteer Scholarship Fund, 694 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15202.
He was born in Suburban Hospital, just a couple blocks from the house he was raised in at 316 McKinley Ave in Avalon. He lived there with his grandparents and parents and his growing family, but by the time his brother was born in 1929, they had moved to Oklahoma, leaving his grandparents there by themselves.
By the early 1930s his parents had bought the McKinley Ave house from his grandparents, and he lived there until 1969. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps towards the end of WWII and spent 16 months in Italy, mostly demolishing planes and other equipment. Back home he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
He got a job with Mesta Machine, and worked there for 30 years. He went to night school and got a Masters Degree in M.E. and passed the test to become a Professional Engineer. His sister tried to get him to go to work for U.S. Steel whenever they were hiring engineers through the years, but he preferred to stay where he was. In 1969 he and his parents sold the McKinley Ave house and bought a house at 120 Siebert Rd. He retired in 1981, just as soon as he was eligible for his pension.
A little over a year before he died he told me that he had always hoped to get married and have a family, but that he had never met the right woman, so it never happened. While sitting with him during the last week of his life, my aunt told me that another big factor for neither of them ever marrying was the mess of a marriage their younger brother had. Betty said that she had heard Marvin say many times that he would never have stood for the crap that Bob put up with for so many years.
He was an avid photographer and had his own darkroom, making black and white prints and enlargements from pictures he had taken as well as from old negatives of various family photos. He built many electronic devices from Heath Kits, including TVs and an organ. He loved classical music, and had a very extensive collection of record albums of many of the classics. He got rid of most of his "stuff" in garage sales in the 1990s, and stuck to listening to WQED on his BOSE radio after that.
In retirement, and especially after my grandmother died, he became more interested in Family History, and began visiting the cemeteries where so many of our ancestors are buried. He sent me many pictures of gravestones through the 1990s, but not until I retired myself in 2006 did I really become interested. I'm so glad that he lived as long as he did, so that he could answer many of my questions concerning so many people in the family.
And perhaps the most amazing thing he did was get a violin at age 84 and play again, after not having played since High School! He performed at some birthday parties and at Christmas in the Assisted Living facility where he spent his last years. And just a few days before he died, his arms were trying to move to play along with his Itzhak Perlman CD! I have a one-minute recording of him playing in the summer of 2011, which I will try to post on a flower so others can hear him play.
Here are a few more details which he himself wrote in a letter to his nephew Rob in May 2002:
I graduated from high school in June 1944 (on D Day). The prior summer of 1943 when I was 16 Dad got me a job at American Bridge Co as a taper. This consisted of putting tape on all the joints of the insulation. No great skill required but I was only 16 and only worked that summer, going back to school in the fall. Companies needed all the bodies they could get due to the war. The man next door was a Navy inspector and he took me on a Saturday to the docks and got on board an LST they were launching. It was interesting to ride a ship down on launching. I always wondered what happened to some of the LSTs I worked on. (LST=Landing Ship Tank)
During my senior year I enlisted in the Army Air Force. On graduation I went to work again at American Bridge. I was called into the service in February 1945 and at that time the war was almost over and they did not need flight crews. I became an airplane (B-17) mechanic and early in 1946 was shipped to Italy. I was stationed at Foggia just for maintenance as there were very few planes flying. Actually they were destroying the existing planes. I came home in December 1946, after 22 months in the service.
I wanted to go to college and become a mechanical engineer. My grades in school were good but could not start school at University of Pittsburgh until February 1948 because of all the applications. While a senior in high school I took a course in "Celestial Navigation" at the Buhl Planetarium. Since I went to Pitt under the G I Bill I had to go straight through, no summers off. I graduated in February 1951 and in my last year received a scholarship from Mesta Machine. I received $75 a month but they paid no tuition fee as I went under the G I Bill. There was no obligation either way but they might offer me a job which I could accept or not. I maintained a B average and joined Pi Tau Sigma, an honorary (at least a B average) Mechanical Engineering fraternity. This was not a party club as the G I s were older and not into that sort of thing. I also joined Sigma Tau, an honorary engineering fraternity with no partying and I don't remember any meetings.
I started work at Mesta Machine Company in Feb 1951. I worked in the shop for 18 months as part of their training then moved up into the engineering department. I was placed in the "Mill Engineering" department. They designed the rolling mills that rolled steel, either hot or cold. In Feb 1952 I began going to night school at Pitt and graduated in June 1955 with a Master of Science in mechanical engineering. Since I was up in my engineering studies I took the tests to become a "Professional Engineer" in early 1956 and I passed. I also took the "Engineer in Training" test which some states required so I had reciprocity in most of the states. I passed and did this as I had no idea where I might be working in the future. TRW expressed an interest but nothing developed.
In later years I became a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer. I worked on the rolling mills primarily but did design gear drives. I retired in February 1981. I did have some interesting things happen which I will relate later.
--------------
From a Pittsburgh newspaper:
MINTEER JAMES MARVIN
Of Avalon and Ross Twp., on Monday, December 10, 2012. Son of the late Harold J. and Ethel L. Minteer; brother of Betty Loraine Minteer and the late Robert Lee Minteer; also survived by four nephews and their families. Known as Marvin to his family and Jim to friends, he earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. A registered engineer in Pennsylvania, Jim retired from Mesta Machine. He was a WWII veteran of the US Army Air Corps, and a 50 year member of both the Shriners and the McKinley Stuckrath Lodge No. 318 F&AM. Friends received Wednesday 10 a.m. until time of service 11 a.m. at the ORION C. PINKERTON FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1014 California Ave., Avalon, 412-766-5600. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations suggested to the Minteer Scholarship Fund, 694 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15202.
My Uncle Marvin died peacefully in his own bed in his apartment at 900 Lincoln Club Dr, Pittsburgh, PA, at 11:11 AM, where he had lived since March 2010. He had apparently had a massive stroke eight days previously and was unable to talk or swallow afterwards. His wishes to not be taken to a hospital to die were honored.
He was born in Suburban Hospital, just a couple blocks from the house he was raised in at 316 McKinley Ave in Avalon. He lived there with his grandparents and parents and his growing family, but by the time his brother was born in 1929, they had moved to Oklahoma, leaving his grandparents there by themselves.
By the early 1930s his parents had bought the McKinley Ave house from his grandparents, and he lived there until 1969. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps towards the end of WWII and spent 16 months in Italy, mostly demolishing planes and other equipment. Back home he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
He got a job with Mesta Machine, and worked there for 30 years. He went to night school and got a Masters Degree in M.E. and passed the test to become a Professional Engineer. His sister tried to get him to go to work for U.S. Steel whenever they were hiring engineers through the years, but he preferred to stay where he was. In 1969 he and his parents sold the McKinley Ave house and bought a house at 120 Siebert Rd. He retired in 1981, just as soon as he was eligible for his pension.
A little over a year before he died he told me that he had always hoped to get married and have a family, but that he had never met the right woman, so it never happened. While sitting with him during the last week of his life, my aunt told me that another big factor for neither of them ever marrying was the mess of a marriage their younger brother had. Betty said that she had heard Marvin say many times that he would never have stood for the crap that Bob put up with for so many years.
He was an avid photographer and had his own darkroom, making black and white prints and enlargements from pictures he had taken as well as from old negatives of various family photos. He built many electronic devices from Heath Kits, including TVs and an organ. He loved classical music, and had a very extensive collection of record albums of many of the classics. He got rid of most of his "stuff" in garage sales in the 1990s, and stuck to listening to WQED on his BOSE radio after that.
In retirement, and especially after my grandmother died, he became more interested in Family History, and began visiting the cemeteries where so many of our ancestors are buried. He sent me many pictures of gravestones through the 1990s, but not until I retired myself in 2006 did I really become interested. I'm so glad that he lived as long as he did, so that he could answer many of my questions concerning so many people in the family.
And perhaps the most amazing thing he did was get a violin at age 84 and play again, after not having played since High School! He performed at some birthday parties and at Christmas in the Assisted Living facility where he spent his last years. And just a few days before he died, his arms were trying to move to play along with his Itzhak Perlman CD! I have a one-minute recording of him playing in the summer of 2011, which I will try to post on a flower so others can hear him play.
Here are a few more details which he himself wrote in a letter to his nephew Rob in May 2002:
I graduated from high school in June 1944 (on D Day). The prior summer of 1943 when I was 16 Dad got me a job at American Bridge Co as a taper. This consisted of putting tape on all the joints of the insulation. No great skill required but I was only 16 and only worked that summer, going back to school in the fall. Companies needed all the bodies they could get due to the war. The man next door was a Navy inspector and he took me on a Saturday to the docks and got on board an LST they were launching. It was interesting to ride a ship down on launching. I always wondered what happened to some of the LSTs I worked on. (LST=Landing Ship Tank)
During my senior year I enlisted in the Army Air Force. On graduation I went to work again at American Bridge. I was called into the service in February 1945 and at that time the war was almost over and they did not need flight crews. I became an airplane (B-17) mechanic and early in 1946 was shipped to Italy. I was stationed at Foggia just for maintenance as there were very few planes flying. Actually they were destroying the existing planes. I came home in December 1946, after 22 months in the service.
I wanted to go to college and become a mechanical engineer. My grades in school were good but could not start school at University of Pittsburgh until February 1948 because of all the applications. While a senior in high school I took a course in "Celestial Navigation" at the Buhl Planetarium. Since I went to Pitt under the G I Bill I had to go straight through, no summers off. I graduated in February 1951 and in my last year received a scholarship from Mesta Machine. I received $75 a month but they paid no tuition fee as I went under the G I Bill. There was no obligation either way but they might offer me a job which I could accept or not. I maintained a B average and joined Pi Tau Sigma, an honorary (at least a B average) Mechanical Engineering fraternity. This was not a party club as the G I s were older and not into that sort of thing. I also joined Sigma Tau, an honorary engineering fraternity with no partying and I don't remember any meetings.
I started work at Mesta Machine Company in Feb 1951. I worked in the shop for 18 months as part of their training then moved up into the engineering department. I was placed in the "Mill Engineering" department. They designed the rolling mills that rolled steel, either hot or cold. In Feb 1952 I began going to night school at Pitt and graduated in June 1955 with a Master of Science in mechanical engineering. Since I was up in my engineering studies I took the tests to become a "Professional Engineer" in early 1956 and I passed. I also took the "Engineer in Training" test which some states required so I had reciprocity in most of the states. I passed and did this as I had no idea where I might be working in the future. TRW expressed an interest but nothing developed.
In later years I became a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer. I worked on the rolling mills primarily but did design gear drives. I retired in February 1981. I did have some interesting things happen which I will relate later.
--------------
From a Pittsburgh newspaper:
MINTEER JAMES MARVIN
Of Avalon and Ross Twp., on Monday, December 10, 2012. Son of the late Harold J. and Ethel L. Minteer; brother of Betty Loraine Minteer and the late Robert Lee Minteer; also survived by four nephews and their families. Known as Marvin to his family and Jim to friends, he earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. A registered engineer in Pennsylvania, Jim retired from Mesta Machine. He was a WWII veteran of the US Army Air Corps, and a 50 year member of both the Shriners and the McKinley Stuckrath Lodge No. 318 F&AM. Friends received Wednesday 10 a.m. until time of service 11 a.m. at the ORION C. PINKERTON FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1014 California Ave., Avalon, 412-766-5600. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations suggested to the Minteer Scholarship Fund, 694 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15202.
He was born in Suburban Hospital, just a couple blocks from the house he was raised in at 316 McKinley Ave in Avalon. He lived there with his grandparents and parents and his growing family, but by the time his brother was born in 1929, they had moved to Oklahoma, leaving his grandparents there by themselves.
By the early 1930s his parents had bought the McKinley Ave house from his grandparents, and he lived there until 1969. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps towards the end of WWII and spent 16 months in Italy, mostly demolishing planes and other equipment. Back home he took advantage of the G.I. Bill and got a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
He got a job with Mesta Machine, and worked there for 30 years. He went to night school and got a Masters Degree in M.E. and passed the test to become a Professional Engineer. His sister tried to get him to go to work for U.S. Steel whenever they were hiring engineers through the years, but he preferred to stay where he was. In 1969 he and his parents sold the McKinley Ave house and bought a house at 120 Siebert Rd. He retired in 1981, just as soon as he was eligible for his pension.
A little over a year before he died he told me that he had always hoped to get married and have a family, but that he had never met the right woman, so it never happened. While sitting with him during the last week of his life, my aunt told me that another big factor for neither of them ever marrying was the mess of a marriage their younger brother had. Betty said that she had heard Marvin say many times that he would never have stood for the crap that Bob put up with for so many years.
He was an avid photographer and had his own darkroom, making black and white prints and enlargements from pictures he had taken as well as from old negatives of various family photos. He built many electronic devices from Heath Kits, including TVs and an organ. He loved classical music, and had a very extensive collection of record albums of many of the classics. He got rid of most of his "stuff" in garage sales in the 1990s, and stuck to listening to WQED on his BOSE radio after that.
In retirement, and especially after my grandmother died, he became more interested in Family History, and began visiting the cemeteries where so many of our ancestors are buried. He sent me many pictures of gravestones through the 1990s, but not until I retired myself in 2006 did I really become interested. I'm so glad that he lived as long as he did, so that he could answer many of my questions concerning so many people in the family.
And perhaps the most amazing thing he did was get a violin at age 84 and play again, after not having played since High School! He performed at some birthday parties and at Christmas in the Assisted Living facility where he spent his last years. And just a few days before he died, his arms were trying to move to play along with his Itzhak Perlman CD! I have a one-minute recording of him playing in the summer of 2011, which I will try to post on a flower so others can hear him play.
Here are a few more details which he himself wrote in a letter to his nephew Rob in May 2002:
I graduated from high school in June 1944 (on D Day). The prior summer of 1943 when I was 16 Dad got me a job at American Bridge Co as a taper. This consisted of putting tape on all the joints of the insulation. No great skill required but I was only 16 and only worked that summer, going back to school in the fall. Companies needed all the bodies they could get due to the war. The man next door was a Navy inspector and he took me on a Saturday to the docks and got on board an LST they were launching. It was interesting to ride a ship down on launching. I always wondered what happened to some of the LSTs I worked on. (LST=Landing Ship Tank)
During my senior year I enlisted in the Army Air Force. On graduation I went to work again at American Bridge. I was called into the service in February 1945 and at that time the war was almost over and they did not need flight crews. I became an airplane (B-17) mechanic and early in 1946 was shipped to Italy. I was stationed at Foggia just for maintenance as there were very few planes flying. Actually they were destroying the existing planes. I came home in December 1946, after 22 months in the service.
I wanted to go to college and become a mechanical engineer. My grades in school were good but could not start school at University of Pittsburgh until February 1948 because of all the applications. While a senior in high school I took a course in "Celestial Navigation" at the Buhl Planetarium. Since I went to Pitt under the G I Bill I had to go straight through, no summers off. I graduated in February 1951 and in my last year received a scholarship from Mesta Machine. I received $75 a month but they paid no tuition fee as I went under the G I Bill. There was no obligation either way but they might offer me a job which I could accept or not. I maintained a B average and joined Pi Tau Sigma, an honorary (at least a B average) Mechanical Engineering fraternity. This was not a party club as the G I s were older and not into that sort of thing. I also joined Sigma Tau, an honorary engineering fraternity with no partying and I don't remember any meetings.
I started work at Mesta Machine Company in Feb 1951. I worked in the shop for 18 months as part of their training then moved up into the engineering department. I was placed in the "Mill Engineering" department. They designed the rolling mills that rolled steel, either hot or cold. In Feb 1952 I began going to night school at Pitt and graduated in June 1955 with a Master of Science in mechanical engineering. Since I was up in my engineering studies I took the tests to become a "Professional Engineer" in early 1956 and I passed. I also took the "Engineer in Training" test which some states required so I had reciprocity in most of the states. I passed and did this as I had no idea where I might be working in the future. TRW expressed an interest but nothing developed.
In later years I became a Senior Mechanical Design Engineer. I worked on the rolling mills primarily but did design gear drives. I retired in February 1981. I did have some interesting things happen which I will relate later.
--------------
From a Pittsburgh newspaper:
MINTEER JAMES MARVIN
Of Avalon and Ross Twp., on Monday, December 10, 2012. Son of the late Harold J. and Ethel L. Minteer; brother of Betty Loraine Minteer and the late Robert Lee Minteer; also survived by four nephews and their families. Known as Marvin to his family and Jim to friends, he earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. A registered engineer in Pennsylvania, Jim retired from Mesta Machine. He was a WWII veteran of the US Army Air Corps, and a 50 year member of both the Shriners and the McKinley Stuckrath Lodge No. 318 F&AM. Friends received Wednesday 10 a.m. until time of service 11 a.m. at the ORION C. PINKERTON FUNERAL HOME, INC., 1014 California Ave., Avalon, 412-766-5600. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations suggested to the Minteer Scholarship Fund, 694 Lincoln Avenue, Pittsburgh, 15202.
