John Kyran Roth

John Kyran Roth, age 75, of Mills River, passed away peacefully after a brief illness on July 24, 2015. John, or "Jake" or "Kyran" as he was known to many who loved him, was born July 1, 1940, in Bergen County, New Jersey, the second of six children born to John Herbert Roth and Eleanor Marie Egan Roth, who both preceded him in death. His older sister, Mary Browne, also preceded him in death. He has two younger sisters, Christine Rutherford and Gina Susek, and two younger brothers, Damien Roth and Joseph Roth. John graduated in 1958 from Pascack Valley Regional High School, where he was a proud member of the varsity football team and the president of his senior class. At Pascack Valley, he met the girl who would become his lifelong love, Elizabeth Joyce, or just "Joyce" Roth. John went on to graduate with a degree in mechanical engineering from the Newark College of Engineering, now known as the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Shortly after graduation, John began working for a small engineering firm in Connecticut, which would shortly thereafter become acquired by Monsanto Chemical Company. On June 8, 1963, John and Joyce were married in New Jersey and moved to Connecticut. John's career with Monsanto would last 34 years and see him move to several locations in Connecticut, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, where he would eventually retire in 1996 as a Director of Personal for a global division of the company. Along their many stops, John and Joyce welcomed two sons, Paul T. Roth, born in 1964 in Indiana, and Peter A. Roth, born in 1969 in Connecticut, and two daughters, Catherine C. Roth Miller, born in 1976 in Illinois, and Stephanie J. Roth Trivedi, born in 1977 in Missouri. John was extremely proud to be grandfather to Nathan Roth, Clayton Roth, and Anna Roth, of St. Louis, Missouri, Erin Roth of Westfield, New Jersey, and Kyran Trivedi of Westborough, Massachusetts, and he was tickled pink by their diverse array of talents and accomplishments. John's overwhelming desire for his children and grandchildren was that they be happy, spend their lives learning new things, obtaining an education, and using their God-given talents to the best of their abilities. John was also a loving father-in-law to Diann Gropp-Roth, Milissa M. Roth, Lee Miller and Nihar Trivedi, who were all cherished by him and all had a meaningful impact on his life. John's marriage to Joyce would last his lifetime until his death on July 24, 2015, and would include countless travels around the country and the world, including multiple trips to Florida, South Carolina, California, Hawaii, Canada and Europe. Family and golf were often highlights of these travels, especially during his 19 years of retirement, and he remained passionate about these loves of his life until his death. Shortly after retirement in Missouri, John and Joyce moved to the Asheville, North Carolina, area, and built their dream home in High Vista on the golf course. Over a period of the last 20 years of his life, John amassed a collection of golf memorabilia and golf antiques that would rival most golf museums around the globe. He had a passion for the history and nuance of the game, its traditions and the ever-changing evolution of the manufacture of its equipment. John was a member of the Golf Collector's Society, and actively participated in many of its events around the country. John was also a long-time player in Society of Hickory Golfers tournaments around the country, which honor the traditions of the game by playing with antique, wooden-shafted clubs. John won or placed highly in several tournaments up to shortly before his death, and made many lifelong friends in these two organizations. In addition to his family and golf, John was passionate about politics, and remained a dyed-in-the-wool conservative his entire adult life, and was not above using his brains and wit to deliver biting, mostly good-natured jabs at his more liberal friends. John was also an accomplished gardener, writer, and singer, and was an intellectual problem-solver of the highest order. John used his passions and skills to successfully head projects that were important to him, like installing lights on the athletic field of a St. Louis high school and several terms on the board of the High Vista Property Owners Association. One of his final projects was his involvement in the effort to preserve the High Vista golf course, which will make him and his family eternally happy when it is successfully completed. John also was a generous contributor of his time and talents to his family and other loved ones, and always had time to listen to their issues or questions and provide sage guidance. He selflessly and without calling attention to himself supported many people and causes that were important to him, and if he felt someone was straight with him and with the world, John would not hesitate to bend over backwards to help that person. John was taken from us way too soon at the young age of 75, but he will forever live on in the hearts of his family and loved ones. His advice will be remembered, his company missed, his devotion to be a provider for Joyce and his family admired and emulated. Of utmost importance to Joyce and his family is that he lived his life with honor, honesty and integrity, and was in the good graces of the Lord at the time of his death. His family finds peace in the certainty that they will be reunited with him in the future. The family would like to thank the many kind and devoted medical staff of St. Louis University Hospital, Mission Hospital, St. Joseph Center and The Lodge at Mills River rehabilitation facility who treated John with dignity and respect in his final few months. Your empathy, compassion and dedication were immensely helpful to us under the most trying of circumstances, and will never be forgotten. In lieu of flowers, John's family kindly requests small donations in his honor to several organizations that were important to him: The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, The First Tee Program, or the American Cancer Society. Any such contribution is truly appreciated and meaningful to his family.