John Vine

John Duane Vine, 89, passed to eternal life October 9, 2024 at Clearwater Ahwatukee Senior Living in Phoenix, AZ after four months of hospice care. John is survived by his loving wife Velva (Cortright), son John (Claudia), daughter Mary Greene, daughter Kathleen (Brian) Marcucci, and son David (Kim). He is also survived by twelve grandchildren: Stanlee, Kira, Libby, Jade, David, Michael, Vincent, Anna, Ben, Stephen, Allison, and Sarah; and three great-grandchildren: Penny, Dante, and Philip.

John was born November 22, 1934, to John Earl and Sarah Cornelia (Clark) Vine in their Main Street home in Campbell, NY.  He is predeceased by his brother Clyde, sister Lena “Lee” Hurd, and brother Gerald “Jerry." John’s grandparents Horatio Seymour Vine, Emma (Cook) Vine, Lucius Clark, and Sarah (Wakeman) Clark were longtime residents in the Campbell area.  

John’s life priorities were family, faith, friends, education, and community. 

His life’s work was education. John’s father had to quit school in the 7th grade to help his own father on the farm. The youngest of four, John was the first in his family to have the opportunity for a college education, with his older siblings coming of age as the Greatest Generation in the 1930s depression and the start of WWII. John was a standout athlete and student at Northside High School (Class of 1953) and was influenced to become an educator by teachers and mentors including Coach Hank Vetter, Reba Masterson, Charlie Chase, and Regal Whitcomb. John attended Cortland Teacher’s College (B.S. 1957). A favorite athletic memory of his from Cortland was playing against Jim Brown of Syracuse in Freshman Basketball, where John’s usual advantage of size and strength were no match that day. John completed master’s degrees (Cortland M.S. 1961, Columbia M.A. Guidance 1962), advanced coursework for certifications (Cornell 1962-1968), and was a doctoral candidate (University of Miami 1967-1968). Beyond the formal education, Columbia and Miami provided experiences that shaped John’s perspective on diversity and social justice, while also forming life-long friendships.

In the Corning-Painted Post (C-PP) School District, John was a teacher, assistant principal, principal (Northside-Blodgett Middle School, Painted Post Middle School, and Frank Pierce Elementary School), and assistant superintendent. John also took project assignments in the redesign of Chemung County BOCES and the C-PP School District Reorganization Task Force. 

John served the community, active as a Rotarian (service above self), United Way (Campaign Chairman 1975, President 1976 and 1977), YMCA (establishing the “new” Y in the armory), Corning Area Bicentennial Committee, and Corning Country Club board. 

The Flood of ‘72 from Hurricane Agnes is a touchpoint for all residents of the time. John worked tirelessly on a multi-million-dollar recovery in the school district so his schools would open fully, on time, for the start of the fall school year.  Everyone helped everyone during and after the flood. John and Velva opened their home to flooded families, as their house was dry. The family worked on Griffith Street, Grace Church, the schools, and friends' homes as the community recovered.  

The City of Corning established a Sister Cities relationship with Lviv (Lvov), Ukraine in the 1980s. A delegation including Mary Lu Walker, Richard O’Brien, Avery Acly, and John visited Lvov in 1987, behind the Iron Curtain, to promote the cultural exchange. John was inspired by the teachers and students and witnessed the contrasts to Soviet Ukraine.

In retirement from the school district, John continued a mission of community Pre-K education and childcare with work for Corning Enterprises. John served on committees and boards, supported the establishment of the Alternative School for Math and Science, and served on the Pathways Inc. board for 26 years. 

John and Velva undertook a golden-years historical preservation project, completing the 2016 renovation of the long vacant Corning War Memorial Library into the City Club Apartments, a National Register building. They undertook the project at the request of Corning Inc. and Three Rivers Development, to anchor neighborhood redevelopment on Corning's Southside. 

John’s start in Corning proper was truly a survival story that put him on a course to meet Velva, the love of his life. 

John attended school in Campbell, Addison, Post Creek (attending a one-room schoolhouse in Beaver Dams), and Corning as his family moved around the area.

Attending 6th grade in Campbell, John fell ill with Nephritis (kidney). On seeing his grave condition, Doc Auringer of Addison drove John “at 100 mph” to Corning hospital. While in a coma for ~30 days, and not expected to live, Dr. Lewis Graham administered many rounds of penicillin, and this led to John’s coming out of the coma and his eventual long recovery. Dr. Graham brought back to Corning his knowledge of penicillin from WWII. The timely match of a new medical protocol to John’s health crisis would repeat a few times over in John’s life.

After recovering from Nephritis and another family move, John repeated 6th grade at Northside Grammar School in Corning. John and Velva met at Northside High School, in the same grade due to dad’s earlier illness, and had their first date at the Columbus Day student council social hour in 1951. John and Velva were together for 73 years, with John in Velva’s care until his passing.

In the 1970s, John developed heart disease and was under the care of Dr. Svetvalis and Dr. Wayne Templer. Dr. Karl Dienhart prepared John for a triple bypass and Dr. William Sewell successfully completed the surgery in 1977 at Robert Packer Hospital (RPH) in Sayre.  In 1991, Dr. Edward Bennett (RPH) restored John again with a successful 5-bypass operation. In 2008, Dr. Deb Ryan (Donnelly) (RPH) brought John back from competing medications for multiple afflictions.  In 2015, Dr. David Bertsch performed colon cancer surgery, extending John’s life at a high quality for his final nine years. In 2017, Dr. Edo Kaluski once again restored John’s blood flow in his heart with a record duration procedure with multiple stents. John’s near 90 years is a testament to modern medicine, many highly skilled doctors, and the numerous nurses and technicians that cared for him. We thank Clearwater Ahwatukee and Hospice of the Valley for his end-of-life care.

John loved the Cortright and Vine extended families and cherished the in-laws, siblings, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Family, friends, and community were intertwined with faith at Grace United Methodist Church, where John and Velva were married in 1956. John was active at Grace Church as a lay leader. John and Velva were active in church and community at all of their life stops including NYC, Miami, Hampstead (NC), Phoenix, and Keuka Lake.  

Friends and family also came together with “lake life." John’s parents spent summers on Keuka Lake and Waneta Lake. Most notable was “Recompense” on Waneta Lake in the 1940s and 50s. In 1976, John and Velva started new family traditions at Keuka Lake with their own cottage, with nearly 50 years of summers and 5 generations of family gatherings following.

The love story of John and Velva is storybook. They were inseparable, true partners, and completely in love for 73 years.

John was an exceptional father, with the right balance of guidance, discipline, friendship, compassion, inspiration, and discretionary silence. He was very proud and humbled at the opportunity for education for his kids and grandchildren.

John is among the last of a generation of educators. There are too many to name, but remember the names of McDonald, Whitcomb, Chase, Gleason, Gonta, Grigsby, Heib, Burmeister, G. Rossi, N. Rossi, Stillwell, Johnson, Madigan, Pierson, Smith, Butchko, Wilhelm, McKendrick, Young, Martini, Mowrer, Turner, Vreeland, Masterson, O’Donnell, Waterman and so many more. 

In his final months, John was at peace with the end of this material life and reflected that he had a GREAT life. He is greatly missed but he will always be full in our hearts. John will be laid to rest in Hope Cemetery, South Corning in a private family ceremony.  

A celebration of John's life will take place at Grace United Methodist Church in Corning, NY on Saturday, November 23rd. Visitation will be from 11AM to Noon followed by a brief service. All are welcome.

We can imagine Ken Burmeister welcoming John with a stern straight face, sitting him down at a table with a file case, and saying “OK John, we knew we’d end up here eventually, having to go through all of your life files before you can be processed.” But instead of files, Ken pulls from the case a bottle of bourbon with two rocks glasses, and with a wink and a grin from Ken, John relives one of his favorite memories on earth.