John F. Jennings

John F. Jennings, 67 of Grove City, passed away on April 19, 2021, at home unexpectedly. He was born to J. Hugh & Maribel (Putnam) Jennings on August 23, 1953, who preceded him in death. John was a resident of Chillicothe for over 60 years.

Surviving are his children: Joshua (Leslie Garman) Jennings and Lesley (Kerry) Rinella, three adored grandchildren, Hannah and Noah Jennings, and Cash Jennings Rinella, all of Grove City; his 3 bonus grandkids Isabel, Claire and Elisabeth; sisters Carolyn Francis and Barb (Stew) Lambert Hawkins of Wilmington, NC; brothers-in-law Dennis (Viki) Hill; Chris (Paula) Hill of Chillicothe; Ted (Jody) Hill of Batavia, Ohio; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his daughter-in-love, Nicole Bashaw Jennings and sister Sharon Jennings.

John attended Chillicothe High School and Sinclair Community College in Dayton. An avid baseball fan, he both played and coached. His love for baseball continued onto officiating, having achieved OHSAA state, district and regional games, as well as officiating numerous collegiate games. His career highlight was officiating for the Chillicothe Paints and the Frontier League with son Josh, Steve Turner and Mark Justus.

John retired from Adena Medical Center in 2014 after 42 years of service in Cardiopulmonary and Respiratory Therapy. He was very proud of this being his only job. He fell in love with his sweetheart, Rebecca (Becky) Jennings, in 1973 and after a lifetime together, they spent their recent years laughing at their old age and glad they were doing it together.

His favorite pastime was traveling, especially to DISNEY! Disney World was his favorite place to vacation with his family and in his family's early years, he would take any and all side jobs he could to save money for those vacations. He loved going to Hawaii (6 times) and to Las Vegas, as well as several other places, both domestically and abroad. One of his favorite things to say was that within a three month span, he stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the top of Diamond Head in Oahu. Every trip to Hawaii, he visited Pearl Harbor but on our most recent family vacation there last year, he was so honored to visit Pearl Harbor on Pearl Harbor Day. He had a lifelong passion and ownership of horses and a love of attending concerts with his children. A great pleasure in his life was knowing that his children still wanted to vacation with him even into their adult life.

John was quite the fighter, having survived many life-altering conditions and we are blessed to know that he passed peacefully at home.

In honor of John and in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your favorite charity in his memory. The family would also love to have a collection of pictures or stories of John from his friends, so please feel free to share those with us via mail or social media.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of John F. Jennings, please visit our floral store.