Junior OJ Megenhardt was born in Akron, Ohio on January 10, 1927, and died on December 3, 2018, at the age of 91. He spent his childhood in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio with his brothers Forest, Richard, Martin, James and his sister Lois. His father, Otto Jesse, and mother Vivian (Freed) came from the farming community of Coal City, Indiana in search of work in the rubber factories of Akron. Vivian wanted their third son to be named Otto Jesse Jr., but he didn't like the idea because he never much liked his name, Otto, so he came up with Junior OJ as a compromise, a solution that caused many explanations and misinterpretations over the years   Otto brought his knowledge of farming to Cuyahoga Falls, as he raised chickens for his family, always had a large garden that the boys plowed and harvested, hunted nearby fields and fished the local ponds. The family survived through the Great Depression through Otto's work at BF Goodrich and Vivian's skill at stretching the intermittent income and suburban farm produce to feed their growing brood. Junior and his brothers often talked of the rough and tumble streets of their childhood, of the brawls with the local rivals, of hanging together and never backing down. Whenever he spoke of those times, Junior's eyes would glint, sometimes he would chuckle, intimating that those were the best of times.

When World War II came to America the Megenhardt family dutifully served and sacrificed. The oldest brother, Forrest, was killed in action during a B-17 bombing mission over Bremen, Germany. His brother, Richard, saw too much carnage in the battle of Midway.  Junior signed up for the Navy on the last day of his 17th year on January 9, 1945, and served through the middle of 1946. Fortunately, he saw no action as he sailed the Atlantic, but he made a great friend of a Native American from Minnesota, called "Big Indian," as they romped through ports of call and performed the hard work of sailors class A on the destroyer Woolsey.  Although, he never much liked the ocean after living through the storms of the Atlantic.

After he was honorably discharged he returned to Akron and started working at BF Goodrich where he worked for 40 years. He eventually became a master hand hose builder and made fire hoses for fire departments across the nation. He began his life's work when Akron was the Rubber Capital of the World and it smelled of vulcanization and he was the last worker laid off from the plant when it closed and moved from the city. He was a strong supporter of the United Rubber Workers and he knew that nothing was ever given by the company, but it had to be fought for and demanded through collective bargaining and strikes, if necessary. He knew who was on the workers' side and because of those hard-fought gains, he was able to enjoy 30 years of a comfortable retirement on a pension.

He met Dolores Jean Novak at a dance and soon knew that he wanted her as his wife. They married on September 25, 1954, and spent the next 64 years together. They were perfect for each other and their marriage remained happy throughout its long course. They settled in Tallmadge, Ohio and lived in the same house for over 60 years.  They had three sons, Douglas (Fiora "Sis" DeSimone -deceased) of Cuyahoga Falls, William of Houston, Texas, and David (Sarah Hinds Garver) of Shaker Heights, Ohio. He has a grandson, Michael and two granddaughters, Claudia and Vivian. Junior loved his children and grandchildren and took great delight in experiencing their exploits as they grew. He loved speaking with Michael over the phone and he would relay the highlights of the conversation to anyone who would listen. He was enthralled by Claudia's intelligence and always had advice for her. He often told Vivian that he hoped to live to see her 16th birthday to see what she would become.  Many summer weekends were spent camping across Ohio and Pennsylvania together as a family. He told stories of swimming in snow-melt streams, of being surrounded by raccoons in the night and seeing the reflection of the campfire in their eyes, of hikes in the woods and seeing the bears in Yellowstone.

Later in life, he owned a sweater that had three stripes, two white and one green, on the right sleeve. He liked to say the two white stripes were for his sons who graduated from Kent State University and the green one was for the son who graduated Akron University, always followed by a proud laugh. He knew that his struggle had moved the family forward, that his everyday descent into the hell of the rubber factory had provided the opportunity for his sons to achieve a level of education that he did not, although he was naturally gifted at math and enjoyed accounting and performed math equations in his mind. He wore the sweater until it was threadbare and Dolores kindly nudged him to wear something new. He always listened to his wife.

The house in Tallmadge had a large yard and Junior always grew a garden of corn, green beans, potatoes, peppers, lettuce, squash, cucumbers, and simply the best-tasting tomatoes that have ever been grown. He spent hours upon hours tending to these plants and spread the abundance of the harvest to family and friends. Junior and Dolores canned and froze much of what they grew that fed their family through the winter months. Junior always seemed to be most content when he was outside among his plants or talking about the variety of tomato he was going to try that year or cutting down a dead tree from the wooded area of the land.

Junior OJ Megenhardt will be greatly missed by his family and friends. He was loyal, supportive, and not afraid to tell you hard truths. He provided an example of hard work, dedication, and the importance of family. He loved telling and retelling stories centered around the family and we will remember them the tell and retell the stories ourselves. He could strike up a conversation with anyone and he was a towering spirit. He was the last of his generation in the Megenhardt family. We can hope to honor him through our own hard work and dedication to our families and creating new stories every day.