John (known as JC) was born March 1, 1926 in Bradenton FL.  His mother Francis and father John C W Daly IV were traveling with his father's band at the time.  They returned to their home in Madison WI where they spent the next few years.  He had fond memories of going back to Chicago where his grandparents lived and attending Chicago Cubs games where he became a lifelong fan, actually attending one of the 1935 World Series games where the Cubs came up short.   They moved back to Chicago where his mother Fran was from, after his parents were divorced and finished Elementary and went off to Georgia Military Academy in College Park GA for High School.  He returned home and was employed at Eastman Kodak before enlisting in the Army to serve at the end of WW II.  He served in the Pacific at Okinawa as a duck driver transporting soldiers to landing zones before returning home in 1945.  After his discharge from the Army, he joined the Army reserves for four years and returned to work at Eastman Kodak until 1952 when he started the Evergreen Park Day Care Center with his mother Fran.  He met the love of his life Joan Babb at a dinner party in 1956 and they were married October 27th 1957 and got a small place of their own on the south side of Chicago.  A year later on October 8th 1958 they welcomed their first child into the world, John C W Daly VI (Jay).  A month later they bought their first house at 9354 S. Lawndale, Evergreen Park IL. Where they lived happily for the next 37 years.  They welcomed their 2nd child, Thomas Edward in December of 1960 and their 3rd bundle of joy Brian Mayne on April 13, 1969.  John was one of the founding members of the Oak Lawn Jaycee's and did many things with Joan (who was in the Juniors) to help their community.

John loved being an active part of his boys life.  He coached almost every baseball team and learned all about wrestling when his boys decided that it was something that they wanted to do.  Attending every football game and wrestling match all through high school and taking movies to document his sons performance for all eternity.  (Although his sons wished he had missed a few of those performances.)  He worked tirelessly to make sure his son's attended and graduated from college.  He was employed by Premium Plastics in 1969 as their Personnel Manager and worked there until his retirement in 1994.  Not to be left out Joan retired from Little Company Hospital a year later and they packed up and headed off to Surprise AZ to be near their dear friends Doris and Bill L'Huillier and Barb and Bill Burger.  They spent the next 19 years making wonderful new friends while staying connected to all their good friends from their Chicago days.

John had a passion for collecting.  Mostly coins but when it came right down to it, anything that didn't move.  When the boys started collecting baseball cards, he was right there teaching them how to care and catalog them.  I believe his first heart attack came when the boys put the cards in their bicycle spokes.  In reality his first heart attack came at the age of 48 and we almost lost him then.  But he quit the pack and a half of Chesterfields a day and while he wasn't trouble free when it came to his heart, it went on to serve him well for the next 42 years.

The boys gave him 11 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren all of which he loved dearly.  And they loved him as the adorable curmudgeon who always had words of encouragement and love for each of them. He and Joan traveled to every place his grandchildren where at, either for a celebration or ceremony or simply to see their smiling faces. They traveled to different countries, different states and always made sure they knew they were loved and important. They loved to pick on him about his fussy eating or watching old westerns but he always gave back as good as he got.  He passed on his great sense of humor to his son's and grandkids.  For those of you who know John well this could be considered a blessing or a curse depending on your perspective.