F. John Fuchs

You know him as the guy who spent all year glued to his computer pro-gramming his Christmas light show (see it for your-self at lightsonwinsor.com – it’s really worth a watch, and you’re just stuck at home right now anyway, so go ahead and check it outÃ-we’ll waitÃ-), made his beloved wife, Margie dress like a ghost for two hours at the front door every Halloween while he orchestrated an elaborate array of Halloween decora-tions and posted pictures of ghosties and ghoulies at spookyfaces.com, and was the creative force behind the lighting in many of your favorite Shoestring Players shows.

His family knows him as an accomplished photo-grapher and the guy who used found objects to make precarious electrical doo-dads around the house (yes, those bedside lamps ARE made out of 1970’s plastic bowls and cups, thank you for asking). And we’re honestly pretty sure we have no idea what’s plugged into where around here. Hopefully Alexa nev-er forgets how to turn on the lights, because then we will be well and truly up a creek.

But mostly, he’s remem-bered as a brilliant, creative genius. He was a loving fa-ther survived by Chris Fuchs (daughter-in-law, Jaclyn) and Betsy (Fuchs) Wolfe (son-in-law, Charles), and a caring hus-band (Margie (Smith) Fuchs is very concerned she will now never know how to program her fitbit or use the KeurigÃ-and she’s really not sure who’s going to bring her coffee and pas-tries in the morning). He was a hands-on grandfather who stained our kitchen tables with some sort ofÃ-acid ?!Ã-while teach-ing our four-year-old kids how to make circuits (Evie and Sawyer Fuchs, and John-Warren (Jawsie) Wolfe will miss you so, so much Grandpa/Papa!). And he was a beloved friend to many – including his Sea-sons Greeters buddies and the many fellow Ham Ra-dio operators he spoke with weekly on the Thumb Net in Michigan. He loved working with his good friend, Ed Tomassini on techy projects at the Jack-son Center, Chatauqua In-stitute, and elsewhere. He was a dedicated treasurer of the Jamestown Concert As-sociation for many years. All in all, he was a pillar of the Jamestown community.

John was born to Freda and Frederick Fuchs (de-ceased) on Aug. 18, 1945, and raised in Holly, Mich., graduating from Holly High School in 1963 (to the re-lief of all of the Hardware Store owners in Holly, whom John bugged on a regular basis). He graduated from the University of Michigan with an electrical engineering degree in 1968. He’s worked (and re-tired, and then worked again, and then tried to re-tire, and then became a consultant, and is basically still working, we’re pretty sure) at Blackstone (currently Blackstone-Ney) Ultrasonics from 1968 untilÃ-well, basically now…as one of the preem-inent (THE preeminent??) ultrasonics engineers in the world. (He told me to say that, so, Post-Journal, you might want to fact check.)

He was married to Mar-gie (Smith) Fuchs for 46 and 1/2 “time-flies-when- you’re-having-fun” years, loved to travel, and had a particular fondness for lighthouses.

He is survived by his two sisters: Kay Pearce (hus-band, Ken) and Patty-Ann Walls (husband, Donald), in Michigan; as well as his whole brood of wife, kids, and grandkids spread around the country. He will be greatly missed (not just for his Keurig prowess), and we will have a John-sized hole in our lives that we will try to fill with memories and new experi-ences in his honor. There’s so much more I want to tell you about him, so stay tuned next week for an ad-dress to subscribe to our John’s-The-Best Newsletter.

And as you all know, his greatest accomplishment (I mean maybe not according to him, but according to humanity) is perfecting his recipes for fudge and caramel corn (PRO TIP: use imported mushroom popcorn!).

Observing strict social distancing guidelines, the family will celebrate with a viewing at Lind Funeral Home on Friday, Jan. 29, from 3 to 6 p.m. A private family service will be held.

If you would like to pay respects, in lieu of flowers please donate in John’s memory to the Salvation Army.

To share a memory or leave a condolence for John’s family, please visit www.lindfuneralhome.com.