James Arthur Glenister Jr.

 

August 18, 1939  –  January 17, 2024  age 84

Visitation Friday January 26, 2024

2pm  –  4pm

7pm  –  9pm

Funeral mass

Saturday January 27, 2024

10:30 am

Saint Raymond RC Church

263 Atlantic Avenue

East Rockaway, New York 11518

Interment

Holy Rood Cemetery

111 Old Country Road

Westbury, New York 11590

In lieu of flowers memorial donations

are appreciated to;

Food Bank of North Carolina

Catholic Relief Services

American Cancer Society

The Auto-Obituary of James Arthur Glenister, Jr.

18 August 1939 – 17 January 2024

 

This obituary was written by the deceased (such as he was).  It has been translated from the original Pig Latin, his native language. The recollections expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of the remainder of the human race.  [However, some minor changes have been provided, largely in the interest of decorum – Ed.]

 

He was born in Brooklyn, NY on August 18, 1939 and a few moments after birth was inducted into the Brooklyn Dodgers fan club. The first 14 years of his youth were spent in Brooklyn. He attended PS102 where the acting talents inherited from his father led to his selection for the starring role of Santa Claus in the third grade Christmas pageant. Despite critical acclaim of that performance, he eschewed the call of the thespians, preferring instead to pursue a lifelong career of pranksterism at which he excelled.

 

He moved to Staten Island and attended New Dorp high school where he was blessed with great high school friends. He continued his penchant for pranks and upon graduation, was elected Class Clown. His acumen as a scholar extended beyond the classroom and he was universally recognized as an authority on the literary works of Mickey Spillane. His short participation in the R&B group, Les and the Serenes, demonstrated his remarkable lack of singing talent. He is most noted for the extraordinary achievement of election into the National Honor Society and expulsion from New Dorp high school on the very same day.

 

He graduated Manhattan college in 1961 with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and was also elected to the Eta Kappa Nu engineering honor society. While in college, he [maintained his interest in foreign languages by translating instructor comments for his fellow students – Ed.] and his proclivity for pranks continued where he and his cohorts [enlivened dorm life – Ed]. The college years were good to him, and many Jaspers remained lifelong friends.

 

Upon graduation in 1961, he joined IBM but soon left for a memorable tour of duty in the US Air Force which lasted until YE 1964. He was in the company of good and dedicated men, who among other things, mentored him in the skills of “Robin Hood” benevolent thievery. You are mercifully spared the details of those escapades.

 

He then rejoined IBM where he specialized in the performance of large mainframe systems and the design of large scale solutions for the financial services industry. In that capacity, he led the design and development of many software solutions and collaborated with the IBM team in Hursley UK on the eminently successful MQ Series product family. He was privileged to work with brilliant friends who pursued excellence and integrity in all business dealings – and cared deeply for their colleagues and clients. While they are not mentioned by name here, he is sure they all know how grateful he is for their friendship.

 

His greatest achievement is undoubtedly his marriage to his wonderful wife, Kathleen Godesky Glenister, with whom he shared over 59 great years. She is the most loving, caring and giving partner he could ever have imagined. They were gifted with a beautiful loving family, and he is immensely proud of all of them. Together Jim and Kathleen nurtured their children and shaped them into wonderful human beings. First and always, they knew and lived “Love God, Love Neighbor”. They had four boys, Jim, Mike, Dave, and Tim, all altar boys and all Eagle Scouts in every sense of the word. Their daughter Kathleen he called “one of a kind” with a sense of justice and courage to act on it that is unequalled – for example, just ask Bishop Quinny in American Samoa.

 

The joy of the children growing up is a treasure that will always be with them. Mom was the family cheerleader taking them on learning adventures in swimming, sailing, snorkeling, skiing, snowboarding, paddle boarding, and horseback riding. And who else would lead Tim’s construction of a skateboard half-pipe in the backyard? They had wonderful beach evenings at Point Lookout, and then there was the incredible joy of laughter and fun at Nunley’s Carousel. God gifted each of the children with athleticism and brains, which they used to build successful careers and provide for their families – and the betterment of this tired world as Scout leaders, spiritual leaders, soup kitchen volunteers and as the conquering Benevolent Pirate (Dave) to build an orphanage. Thank you God for the who they are.

 

The family was raised in East Rockaway, NY where he and Kathleen, along with many good friends, were very active in the CYO and Boy Scout youth programs at St. Raymond’s RC parish. They relocated to Cary, NC in 1994 and he eventually retired in 2015. During that time, he assisted Kathleen’s development of her magnificent gardens largely by digging holes and rising to the rank of PFC (Peon First Class). [His dream of an epic engineering breakthrough to combat the infestation of moles and voles attacking the gardens went unfulfilled, sadly, when his visionary ideas clashed with the short-sighted bureaucracy that is the Environmental Protection Agency – Ed.].

 

Up to the time of his death, the deceased was a member of VFM, an organization of dedicated Wall Street friends and colleagues focused on assisting military veterans start a career in Financial Services. Their belief that we can never fully repay for the sacrifices made by our wonderful military is shared by many.

 

As sage advice, he leaves us this profound thought: “Never see a doctor in a down market”. Please be assured the deceased has no regrets. He was blessed by God with a wonderful family and steadfast friends who made every day a delight. There are two simple mandates that he tried to follow: Love God and Love Your Neighbor.  In return, he has experienced the joyous reward of boundless love and it doesn’t get better than that.

 

[His plans for a final postmortem prank – to be disguised as a mummy and dropped off at a museum, with all the resultant confusion as to why said mummy is wearing a Navy t-shirt and Notre Dame hoodie – will, like his garden rodent bulb blueprints, go unfulfilled.  He will instead be interred at Holy Rood Cemetery, after viewing at Donza Funeral Home on Friday the 26^th of January, and a funeral Mass at 10:30 am at St. Raymond’s in East Rockaway on Saturday the 27^th of January – Ed].

 

Thank you for reading this. God bless all you wonderful people.  His final wish is that you live your love of God, neighbor, and each other to the fullest.

Jim is survived by his wife Kathleen (nee Godesky); children Jim (Tresha), Mike (Becky), Dave (Helen), Kathleen (Cannon), and Tim (Jean Marie); ten grandchildren; siblings-in-law Robert, Mary, and Ann Godesky; nieces Kelly (Bill) Marshall (nee MacStoker) and Vicki (Michael) Nielsen (nee MacStoker); six grand-nieces and grand-nephews; and dear friends.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Food Bank of North Carolina, Catholic Relief Services, or the American Cancer Society.