John Richard Segedy

 

John Richard Segedy
John Richard Segedy

John Richard Segedy, 73, of Amarillo, TX passed away on September 3, 2021. 

The family will receive friends from 6:00 P.M. – 7:00 P.M., Thursday, September 9, 2021, at Boxwell Brothers Funeral Home. Services will be at 2:00 P.M., Saturday, September 11, 2021, at HIS Church, 6300 Arden Rd. Burial will be at Memorial Park Cemetery. Arrangements are by Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, 2800 Paramount Blvd. 

John Richard Segedy was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio to Louis and Gladys Segedy on August 5th, 1948.

He moved to Amarillo with his parents, big brother Robert and little sister Bette in 1950.

 As a boy, he played baseball, was in the Boy Scouts, threw newspapers for extra money, and enjoyed swimming in the pond at the cemetery with his brother and neighborhood friends.

In January 1966, as a senior at Caprock High School, he met the love of his life Patsy Pippin and received his high school diploma in May 1966. 

They went on to get married on June 21, 1968, a month after Patsy graduated high school.

After high school, he began attending Amarillo College Mechanic’s School and received a Mechanics Degree in 1969, followed by the birth of their first child, a son, Scott in December 1969.

They purchased their first home in Oakdale in October 1969.

John started working at Amarillo Gear Company, followed by fueling planes at Tradewinds airport, and even tried out the railroad for a while like his big brother. But God had a different calling in his life. A calling to serve his community and save lives.

He began his 31-year career with the Amarillo Fire Department in August 1972. He shared with his family many times that his training consisted of taking a civil service test, showing up to the fire station as a 24 -year old inexperienced young man, and it was on-the-job training from there.

John & Patsy’s next bundle of joy, Jamie, came to join the family in June of 1975. 

The family moved to their current residence in 1978. They purchased 5 acres on a dirt road south of Amarillo. The labor of their love started off with a barren wheat field. John & Patsy’s passion of yard work, planting and growing trees and gardening developed into a beautiful piece of property with hundreds of trees, and an expansive front and back yard. Over the years they added beautiful flower and vegetable gardens. His son-in-law helped him build a large shop in 1999.

On his time off away from the station, he continued to work on anything with a motor and even spent some time racing motorcycles. He had a unique gift of understanding how things worked, how they were broken, and how to put them back together. He passed this part of his legacy on to his son, 3 grandsons, and son-in-law. 

Throughout the years, he took odd and end jobs on his days off to provide for his family. He had a ditching service for several years, worked at Tanglewood Marine as a boat mechanic for many years, hung commercial blinds with a fellow firefighter, but the longest “part-time” job was mowing yards. He hired Jamie when she was 15 years old, which helped her develop a strong work ethic and teach her life skills.

John was always involved in his kid’s activities, whether it was coaching Scott’s baseball or football teams, helping start the BMX program for the area, or toting Jamie back and forth from gymnastics practice and meets or watching tennis matches. The family spent many summers on his 4 days off camping at area lakes, fishing and swimming and spending quality family time together.

Before his last call as an active duty firefighter, 4 of John’s grandchildren had the honor of spending the night with him at the fire station, a highlight to them as young children. John was a devoted Grampa and Gramps to his 5 grandchildren, teaching his grandsons life lessons along the way and treating his granddaughters like princesses. John retired from A Shift at Central Station as a Captain in January 2004 at 56 years old.

In retirement, John & Patsy enjoyed spending time with Scott and his wife Brandi and their 3 children, Tyler, Madison & Brady in Arizona. They enjoyed going to Disney Land, the Grand Canyon, San Diego, Mexico and area lakes in Arizona. One of their most favorite and peaceful places was “Segedy Acres” in the Coconino National Forest near Flagstaff, where they would set up their toy hauler for weeks on end, even bringing their beloved animals…including the cat at times. 

They enjoyed going on all day trail rides and exploring in his Suzuki Samarai, known as “4 Low” and spending quality time with Scott, his family and their friends.

John’s love for creating a beautiful piece of land to raise his family continued throughout the years, so much so that his daughter and son-in-law were married in their front yard with his mother-in-law setting up her c-c chuckwagon in the back yard to serve their family and friends. Jamie and her husband Bob moved onto the property and began to raise their own family there for 11 years. 

As Korah & Kaston grew up, they always had “Mamaw & Grampa” in their front yard to visit any time they wanted. They all became members of the Panhandle Boat & Ski Club at Lake Greenbelt in the early 2000s. For many summers together, they enjoyed the camaraderie of the club members, many of which were firefighters, and spent their days fishing, camping, boating and sitting by the campfire. Serving the people of Texas Panhandle was one of John’s proudest accomplishments in his life and he passed that legacy down to his daughter and her family as they have faithfully served the community through their family foundation, where John & Patsy volunteered their time together over many years and events with them.

For John & Patsy’s 50th wedding anniversary, 19 of their family members went on an Alaskan Cruise to celebrate their devotion and commitment to each other. John was ready to cruise again, and they had even planned to meet their dearest of friends Dennis & Lisa Eaves in Florida on September 1st for a 10-day cruise on their sailboat.

Throughout his years as a firefighter and into retirement, John was a part of a special brotherhood. Some of his most favorite times were the pranks they always played on each other at the station. Each year in retirement, he looked forward to spending time with his fellow firefighters at the “HMWH” fishing trip and was, fortunately, able to attend his last time with them this past May.  

John & Patsy had the opportunity to travel the United States, and even visited Puerto Rico & the Caribbean a couple of times with fellow firefighters and friends. They both enjoyed riding Harley Davidson’s and were members of the H.O.G. Club, where they rode in local poker runs and even made several trips with fellow firefighters to Sturgis, SD and the National Firefighter’s Memorial in Colorado Springs, CO. They eventually traded in their Harleys for “Scarlett”, a bright red 2001 C5 Corvette.  

John’s love of spending time taking care of his home and grounds continued on during this past year. John finally built Patsy the greenhouse she always wanted and tilled and planted a garden. 

John Segedy impacted and saved hundreds, if not thousands of lives over the course of his career as a Firefighter and member of the Texas Panhandle community. And even continued to do so in his final days and now beyond, even from heaven. He was tough as nails, a fighter to his core with an incredibly strong work ethic, strong hands and broad shoulders to carry the burdens of the world. He held the line for family, friends and strangers as a humble servant of God.

He is preceded in death by his parents and his beloved Boston Terrier “Newt”. He is survived by his wife Patsy of 53 years, his son Scott & wife Brandi Segedy, his daughter Jamie & husband Bob Snyder, 5 beautiful grandchildren, Tyler, Madison & Brady Segedy and Korah & Kaston Snyder, his brother Robert Segedy and sister Bette Duvak, several brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, his mothers-in-law Audrey Brookshire and Sue Cunningham, dozens of nieces and nephews and cousins.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made to:

Amarillo Fire Department Pipes and Drums

4400 Jennie Avenue

Amarillo, TX 79106

or

Amarillo Fire Department Public Education Fund

310 S. Van Buren

Amarillo, TX 79101

John will be escorted by the Amarillo Fire Department Honor Guard alongside honorary pallbearers Scott Segedy, Bob Snyder, Tyler Segedy, Madison Segedy, Korah Snyder, Brady Segedy and Kaston Snyder.

 

Please use this link to live stream the service: https://www.facebook.com/BoxwellBrothersFuneralDirectors/live/.

11 Replies to “John Richard Segedy”

  1. Remember John from Station 6 in the 70’s HS girls decided that being firefighters wouldn’t be so bad until John loaded us down with gear and had us jump on the truck. He told us good and bad and educated us in ways no others would. Good man

  2. What a great guy I have many memories from back in the day going to Amarillo College mechanic’s school and him visiting me at my shop from Time to time just basically checking on me and if he needed to use anything I told him to go for it sure going to miss seeing him from time to time, God bless this family!

  3. My best friend. My brother. I love you man. Prayers to Patsy and all the family. May God be with you and comfort you.

  4. What a wonderful tribute…Johnny will be missed by so many..gone way too soon..RIP….love hugs and prayers. Praying peace for Patsy and the family. 🙏❤️‍🩹

  5. I am so sorry for your loss. May God give you peace and comfort throught this time of grief.

    From:
    Melissa Jones Sister

  6. God bless the family of this amazing, loving husband, father, grandfather and friend. What a loving legacy to leave his family and community ❤

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