John J. Pappa

WILMINGTON, Del. - John J. Pappa, 85, peacefully passed away on Sunday, June 10, 2007, at home surrounded by his family after a long illness.

He grew up in Wilmington and served in World War II as a Navy gunner. He survived the sinking of two ships. He was a master pipe fitter and member of Local 74.

In 1984, he retired as the Delaware region foreman for Johnson Controls. In retirement, he enjoyed reading, golfing and fishing with his family and friends on the Chesapeake Bay.

He was preceded in death by his first wife, Ann P. Reader in 1954, and survived by his wife of 51 years, Charlotte A. Pappa and 11 children and their spouses: Kathleen and Horace Scherer, Geraldine and Harold Douglas, Ann and John Griffith, Helena and John Bradley, John and Susan Pappa, Robert and Patricia Pappa, Mary and Gary Opromolla, Daniel and Karen Pappa, Renee Pappa, Charles and Charlene Pappa, and Charlotte and Richard Horgan; 27 grandchildren; one great-grandchild, and his sisters, Margaret Seal, Frances Pappa, Regina Marsilii, and Mary Sapp.

He was predeceased by his brothers Daniel Pappa and Charles Pappa.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, at St. John the Beloved Church, 907 Milltown Road. Burial will be in the Delaware Veterans" Memorial Cemetery, Bear, Del.

Friends may call at the Doherty Funeral Home, 3200 Limestone Road, Pike Creek on Wednesday, from 6-8 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations for childhood leukemia in care of the Mackenzie Bohn Benefit Fund.