Obituary of John Christy Monsul

John C. Monsul was born in Albany N.Y. 12/5/1929 and passed away at the Reston Hospital Center in Fairfax Virginia 3/11/2023 at the age of 93.

   He was preceded in death by his beautiful wife Dolores or DeeDee as she was so fondly called, his parents Christy and Blanche, his brother Robert W., M. D., Joan Monsul and niece Virginia Monsul Barnes. He is survived by his brother James of Westerville Ohio, nieces and nephews Michele Monsul Jones Of Goldsboro, N.C., Jason Monsul of Westerville OH., Nicole Monsul Wolfe of Etna OH., Justin Monsul of Westerville OH, Judy Spiller of Philadelphia PA., a longtime friend of DeeDee and John who met in Collingswood NJ about year after they were married in 1955, Rich and Pam Masaniello of great Falls VA. Johns friends who built their house across the street a year after John built his in 1979, Father Myron Myronyuk of St Valdimir Ukrainian Catholic church in Scranton PA who John visited often after DeeDee was buried in Scranton and treated him as a grandfather to his family, Irina Davis of Great Falls VA. who John met 2 years after DeeDee passed away. Irina filled a void in his life and became his companion the last 6-1/2 years of his life. The last year she was his care giver. And many other friends and acquaintances.
   After graduating West Catholic high school in Philadelphia in 1947, John attended St. Joseph college and graduated from Drexel University both in Philadelphia PA. As a Drexel student he played football and wrestled on their team.  He was an avid accordion player and would attend many school and private functions where, if he was asked, he would always provide the entertainment.

  While at Drexel he met a fellow student by the name of Chuck Barris who in the 60s became famous for producing TV game shows like “The Newlywed Game” and “The Gong Show”. Since they were both interested in providing entertainment to the students, they formed a four-piece band and booked gigs to satisfy their passion.

   John graduated from Drexel in 1953 with a degree in business administration. He was drafted in the US Army, and trained in counter intelligence. He was then stationed in Munich Germany as a CIC operative in 1954 and 55.  The year 1955 was a very busy year for John.  During this time he requested leave to fly back to Scranton where he married his sweet heart of six years Dolores “DeeDee” Urbanik where she was born, raised and went to school. They returned to his base sailing on the Queen Mary, and honeymooning in Paris, they rented an apartment near his base. Unfortunately, DeeDee had to return to Scranton to help with some family business.  They were reunited in Germany in 1955 when John was honorably discharged.

   Between 1955 and 1994 they both took jobs in various cities: Philadelphia to several cities in NJ and MD. In 1972 John received his biggest promotion when he was appointed regional sales manager at Magnavox in Washington DC.  During those years he developed his skill attending many company activities, private and social functions. His work lead him to opportunities where he was asked to tell a good story, play his accordion, or tell a good joke. He always obliged.

   In 1979 he built their house in great Falls VA.  During those years, being childless, they enjoyed traveling.  He and DeeDee traveled all over the world from Russia to China to India to most of the countries in Europe as well as many of the states in the US until her death in January 2015 

  Before he retired from sales in1994 he met Ed Nicholas in 1989 at the Great Falls chamber of commerce who happened to be the president of the Fairfax public television channel 10 in Fairfax Virginia. Ed asked him to create a TV show because he felt that John was very capable of good discussions and talented, knowing he could play the accordion and piano. John came up with an idea for a talk and variety tv show and called it “Communicating Today”.  Ed liked the idea and asked John to produce and host the show. John created, produced and hosted Communicating Today which ran for 30 years until he retired from the show in 2022. He created more than 800 programs and was recognized by the Fairfax County board of supervisors for his hard work and creativity for the benefit of Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. residents.

   There will be a memorial mass for him on Saturday May 20^th at 10am at St Catherine of Siena Catholic church in Great Falls Virginia. From there his remains will be transferred from Adams Green funeral home in Herndon VA. to Nicholas Chomko funeral home in Scranton, PA. There will be a funeral mass set for him on Tuesday May 23^rd at 10am at St Vladamir Ukranian catholic church in Scranton PA., He will be buried in the church cemetery in a plot next to his wife DeeDee where they will spend eternity together. 

   Because John was involved in many civic and social activities along with nonprofit organizations during his sales career and during his later years on his TV show, he would request that any donations be made to St Catherine of Siena Catholic Church in Great Falls Virginia in his honor to carry on his legacy.