John J. Rezendez
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REZENDES, John J. of Nashua, NH and former longtime resident of Reading MA, passed away in Merrimack, NH on Thursday, June 02, 2022, surrounded by his family.
He is survived by two daughters, Diane Samson of Nashua and Judith Rezendes of York, ME; two grandchildren, Joseph Samson, Jr. of Nashua and Nicaela Samson- Illsley and her husband Christopher Illsley of Pelham, NH; nieces, nephews and many dear friends. John is predeceased by his former wife, Lorraine B. (Simas) Rezendes.
John was born in Cambridge, MA to Anthony and Victoria (Rapoza) Rezendes. He is predeceased by his sisters Marguerite Grace, Mary Vieira, Anna Leonardo and brothers Arthur King and Anthony Rezendes, Jr.
John graduated from Cambridge Latin and joined the U.S. Navy. He served during the Korean War and was assigned to the USS Missouri and USS Des Moines. After serving four years, he was honorably discharged. John received an Associates degree in mechanical engineering and Bachelors in Engineering and Business Management from Northeastern University. He was employed by ITEK Corporation for over 35 years. He worked on many interesting and, at the time, classified optics projects for the US Government, including the optics system on the U-2 Spy plane and the camera system for the Corona reconnaissance satellite project. He also worked on optics systems for the Apollo program, the two Mars Viking Landers (which provided the first high-resolution images of the Martian surface), and the two Keck telescopes in Hawaii (being the world's largest astronomical telescopes at the time of completion). His final project prior to retirement was working on the optics repair for the Hubble Telescope.
John was an active member at the St. Agnes Church in Reading, MA teaching religious education for over 20 years and served as President of the Teachers Program. He was a member of Reading Knights of Columbus for over 60 years and served as Grand Knight. Additionally, after moving to Nashua, John was a volunteer at St. Joseph's Hospital for over seven years.
A Visitation will be held on Monday June, 27 from 9-11am at Zis-Sweeney & St. Laurent Funeral Home located 26 Kinsley St, Nashua NH with a service beginning at 11am.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ZisSweeneyFuneralHome.com