John (“Johnny”) Kutner Levy passed away Wednesday, March 30, 2016 in

Houston due to complications from multiple myeloma. He was 96 years old.

John was born December 17, 1919 in Bronx, New York and grew up in Brooklyn, New York, graduated from Erasmus Hall High School, and briefly attended Brooklyn College.

He started out working in his father’s neighborhood grocery store in Brooklyn, and then followed his father to work at the New York Paramount Theater.

He was a Veteran of World War II, Pacific Theater of Operations (IwoJima), with the rank of Technician Fifth Grade (Corporal) in the Army Air Corps, Signal Corps.

He was a noncombatant, but combat still went on all around him. He, like many of the Greatest Generation, didn’t like to recount those experiences, except to describe his record-taking of encoded weather data sent via Morse Code for the pilots who used the airstrip on the island.

While training with the Army, in Port Arthur, Texas, he met Moselle, the love of his life. They kept in touch throughout his service, writing letters every day, and they married shortly after he returned, on July 14, 1946 in Port Arthur.

In Port Arthur, John joined the family jewelry business as a retail jewelry merchant, first at the Gem Jewelry Company with his father-in-law, the founder of the corporation, and later, he started his own store, a branch of the old chain, which became the Jay Jewelry Company of Orange, Texas. He retired in 1993.

John always had a smile on his face and compassion in his heart. No matter what, he always had kind words for all and concern for others above himself. He was a sharp thinker, and remained so until his last days, continuing to solve the daily Jumble puzzle in the newspaper. His compassion, love, and wise counsel will be sorely missed.

John is predeceased by his wife of 50 years Moselle Jacobs Levy, his beloved parents, Samuel Kutner Levy and May Weill Levy, and his sister Muriel Levy Weiner and her husband Dr. Jacob (“Jack”) Weiner. John is also predeceased by his beloved parents-in-laws, Jacob (“Jay”) Jacobs and Hadassah Sadovsky Jacobs, his sister-in-law Gloria Jacobs Sherman and her husband Robert (“Bob”) M. Sherman; and John’s son-in-law, Staff Sgt. Michael Pope, USAF (Ret.).

Those missing him include his children: son Joel Kutner Levy and daughter-in-law Judith (“Judi”) Frumin Levy, Joel’s and Judi’s children and John’s cherished grandchildren Daniel Kutner Levy and Maureen Ellen Levy; son Jay E. Levy and daughter-in-law Peggy Kissinger Levy; and daughter Jan Levy Pope; niece Amy Weiner Jacobson and her husband Edward Jacobson; niece Judith (“Judi”) Sherman; nephew Dr. Howard Weiner and his wife Esther Brodsky Weiner; nephew Jeffrey Jay Sherman and his wife Bonnie Neiman Sherman; and nephew Bruce Alan Sherman.

He was a lifelong Mason, member of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, and a Shriner. He was also a 50-year member of the Rotary International chapter of Orange, Texas, and past president of that organization; a long-time member of the North Port Arthur Lions Club; and a long-time member of B’nai Brith.

He was a member of Temple Rodef Shalom, Port Arthur, Texas, until its dissolution, and then of Temple Emanuel in Beaumont, Texas.

Most heartfelt thanks are offered to those who provided such loving care for him during these past difficult days: Paul Holoye, MD; Susan Williams, MD; Victor Narcisse, III MD; and their staffs, especially Sue and Kathy at Dr. Holoye’s office; Griselda and Laura of Onlex Home Health; the staffs at the Gardens of Bellaire, Houston Northwest Hospital, the Methodist Hospital Intensive Care Unit, and the staff of Kindred Hospital, Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 PM, April 3, 2016, at Clayton-Thompson Funeral Directors, 5200 39Th St., Groves, Texas 77619. Interment will follow at Greenlawn Memorial Park, Groves TX 77619 (around the corner from the funeral home). Rabbi Joshua Taub of Temple Emanuel, Beaumont, Texas will officiate, with additional Masonic graveside rites.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in his memory to charities most close to your heart, or to the Leukemia Lymphoma (and Myeloma) Society, either of the Shriners’ Hospitals (Houston or Galveston), the American Cancer Society, or to Temple Emanuel in Beaumont, Texas.