John Messbauer, teacher, WWII vet, dies
John Messbauer is shown as a Jones Beach lifeguard in this undated handout photo. (Handout photo) Credit: Photo by
John J. Messbauer racked up impressive statistics in his long life.
During World War II, he was a bombardier on a B-17, flying 30 missions over Europe. He was an elementary schoolteacher for 27 years in Brentwood and Huntington. And he worked 55 summers as a Jones Beach lifeguard.
Messbauer, 91, of Plainview, died Dec. 14 at the Hospice in Melville of Parkinson's disease.
He was born in Bayside and his family moved to Little Neck and then Montauk, where he helped out his father, a fisherman, and gained a love of the water.
After graduating from Chaminade High School, he attended Columbia University, playing football and hockey -- a lifelong passion.
In 1940, while in college, he started working as a lifeguard at Jones Beach.
"He loved being a lifeguard," said a daughter, Cynthia Baltera of Centerport. "The attraction was being around the water. And it was all about saving lives. It was also his outlet. Having six daughters, he needed a place to go. He liked being down there with the guys. It was like a family."
Messbauer left college during World War II to serve in the 8th Air Force's 385th Bomb Group in 1942. On 17 of his 30 missions, he served as lead bombardier, guiding the other planes to their target. The second lieutenant was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and other medals.
After the war, Messbauer worked as a salesman for General Foods while earning a degree in political science at Queens College. Later he received a master's in education from Hofstra University.
After teaching at South Elementary School in Brentwood from 1958 to 1966, Messbauer moved to the Huntington district, starting at Village Green Elementary.
Messbauer shifted to Woodhull Elementary in 1973 and in 1979 to Robert K. Toaz Junior High, and ended his career at Huntington Elementary, where he taught sixth grade from 1980 to 1985.
Robert Wenninger of Huntington, who grew up with Messbauer in Little Neck and worked with him at Jones Beach, said he had a personality that served him well as a teacher, lifeguard and B-17 bombardier.
"John was a very cool character," Wenninger said. "He never got excited and he could handle whatever happened."
In 1952, Messbauer married United Airlines stewardess Grace Louise Crowley after meeting her at LaGuardia Airport and the couple moved to Plainview. They were married 49 years, until she died in 2001.
Messbauer helped form and then coached in the Town of Oyster Bay hockey program. "He played hockey all the time and was on various teams going back to high school," Baltera recalled.
Besides Baltera, he is survived by daughters Sally Messbauer of Uniondale, Cora Dinka of Huntington and Heidi Keelips of Rowayton, Conn.; five grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two sisters, Marilyn Norowski of Cape Coral, Fla., and Joanne Moran of Myrtle Beach, S.C.
He was buried Dec. 19 at Long Island National Cemetery in East Farmingdale after a funeral at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Plainview.
Out East: Mecox Bay Dairy, Kent Animal Shelter, Custer Institute & Observatory and local champagnes NewsdayTV's Doug Geed takes us "Out East," and shows us different spots you can visit this winter.
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