When he took his family to Lake Geneva, Wis., during the summer, John F. Morrissy organized gin rummy tournaments for the younger children and walks around the lake for the older ones. “He was great with kids, and they loved him and he loved them,” said his wife, Gloria. Mr. Morrissy, 79, a former owner of a tuckpointing business and an administrator with the Illinois State Board of Elections, died Wednesday, Sept. 15, in his Westchester home after a long battle with emphysema. He grew up in River Forest, where he was the first altar boy to serve at a newly opened St. Luke Catholic Church in 1936. He graduated from St. Luke School and Fenwick High School in Oak Park before enlisting in the U.S. Navy in 1943. During World War II, he served as a signalman on landing craft near France, Africa and Italy, where he was in the Battle of Anzio. He attained the rank of petty officer 3rd class. After the war, he attended DePaul University from which he received a bachelor’s degree in commerce. He then went to work for Morrissy Contracting, a tuckpointing business owned by his father, J. Emmet, and uncle, Eugene. The company, which Mr. Morrissy eventually came to own, did high-profile work on government, industrial and Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago buildings, including Holy Name Cathedral. He was a past president of the Chicago Tuckpointers Association. In 1951, he married Gloria Kennedy, and the couple raised their five children in Melrose Park and Oak Park. In 1974, during an economic slump, he sold the business and went to work for the State Board of Elections, where he was a campaign disclosure specialist until his retirement in the mid-1990s. In 1993, the Morrissys moved to Westchester. “He was very good at making kids feel special, and he loved to have fun,” said his daughter Anne. In addition to his wife and daughter, survivors include two sons, John Jr. and Michael; two other daughters, Barbara McElherne and Jamee Alperovich; a brother, Jerome; and nine grandchildren. Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday in Peterson Funeral Home, 6938 W. North Ave., Chicago. Mass will be said at 11 a.m. Saturday in St. Luke Catholic Church, 528 Lathrop Ave., River Forest.
