John J. Supina

by Philip Supina

John Joseph Supina was born in Ashford on June 8, 1909. He comopleted high school in Stafford CT and went to work on a series of WPA construction projects during the Depression.  John volunteered  in the construction of St. Philip's Church in Willington.

John served in the United States Army in World War II seeing action in eastern France in the area around Strasburg. Many years after the war, John came across a note and IOU he had made out to a fellow soldier for a personal loan. Twenty years later, he insisted on sending a check to pay off the loan. The fellow called from California saying he had forgotten about the debt — but thanked John profusely.

After the war, he came back to Ashford and worked on the his parents farm for several years and then opened an Esso gas and service station. Later John went into the glass bottle and antique business, specializing in bottles made in the Westford area of Connecticut and especially those made by the Westford glass factory. John built up an impressive collection of bottles, aided by a phenomenal memory.

 John was generally considered one of the "peacemakers" in the family. While most of the family members were hunters, John was the fisherman and enjoyed renting a boat for deep sea fishing. He also enjoyed eating seafood of all kinds.

John attended auctioneering school in Iowa but hearing problems prevented him from developing a successful auctioneering career.

His last years were complicated by Parkinson's Disease. John died on a brutally cold day on February 9, 1993.