John Tiel

John Tiel was born on April 7, 1936 and passed away on February 18, 2019.

John requested his obituary be about people who treated him with kindness and love.

His father Leslie Tiel and his Grandfather Tiel operated a trucking business in Honesdale. As a little boy, he was always with them on the trucks. Then before he was 14 years of age, he lost his father due to an illness. John left school shortly after and began working at a very young age for his grandfather hauling milk cans to the creamery and delivering coal.

In October of 1952 he met the person he would spend the rest of his life with. On August 30, 1958 they married in St. Joseph’s Church, White Mills. They left for Charlotte, NC where John graduated from equipment school. Returning to Wayne County he worked in construction in the Monticello and Rock Hill, NY area until starting his own excavating business in 1964. He was in business for 37 years.

In late 1981, he met a young boy not yet 12 years old. The following June 23, 1982, this young Phillip started going in the summers with him. John fondly named him “Buckshot.” Buckshot and John were true pals. Many thought he was John’s son. Having been with John just a few days, he said to John, “I do not have a Dad, will you be my Dad?” A Dad he was to this young man for almost 37 years.

John wanted his obituary to be about the people who loved him and most of all the people he dearly loved.

John was a life member of the Alert Hook and Ladder #2 Fire Company.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, February 22nd at St. Joseph’s Church, Rileyville at 10 am. Interment will be in the spring in St. St. Julianna’s Cemetery, Rock Lake. Friends may visit Hessling Funeral Home,Inc., 428 Main St. Honesdale on Thursday, 4 to 7.

Memorial contributions can be made to the Alert Hook and Ladder #2 Fire Co., 222 Willow Ave. Honesdale, PA 18431.