John H. Greene was a young man who considered himself a woodworker until the U.S. Army gained a say in his life.
His wife, Twila, said he had been sanding and refinishing floors with his father at age 22 when Uncle Sam summoned him for service in the Korean War, drafting him into the Army. After taking some aptitude tests, the Army saw something different in Greene -- the ability to work with watches.
"He said, 'I told them the only thing I knew about a watch was how to wind it'," his wife recalled.
She said they assigned him to work with five German watchmakers. Twila said the reasoning by Army officials was that if they had troops heading for battle in five different directions, they wanted them to arrive on time and needed reliable watches to do that.
The assignment changed John Greene's life.
When he was discharged, he went to school in Pittsburgh and became a master watch and clock maker and eventually founded Greene Jewelers in Armbrust with Twila, earning a fine reputation in his craft and a good living for his family along the way.
John H. Greene, of Armbrust, died Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005, in his home at the age of 77.
"He was a very devoted man," Twila said. "Quiet, but very devoted."
Mr. Greene was born June 9, 1928, in Sutton, W. Va., the son of the late J.R. and Vergie E. Fox Greene. He met Twila Overly when they both worked at Howard Jewelers in Greensburg. Three years later, they were married. "We worked together six days a week for two years before we ever dated," she said.
In 1972 they founded Greene Jewelers in the basement of their home in Armbrust. From there the shop was moved into their garage, which subsequently was expanded three times to accommodate the business. She said they never thought things would turn out as they did.
"We never thought we would own our own business," she said. That changed when the Greensburg store he was working at closed and the alternatives were to open their own shop or drive to Pittsburgh to work at a jewelry store. The choice they made turned into not just a good living but a whole lifestyle.
"You have to remember we were married for 45 years, but 34 of those years we spent together 24 hours a day," Twila said. "We went to work together, we worked all day together and came home together.
"We talked about it many times and said how blessed we were that we could work that many hours together and still get along well."
She credited the success of the business to John's skill and the reputation that sprouted from it. It was a reputation that resulted in Greene Jewelers doing repair work for customers as diverse as watch manufacturers in Germany and France, who warranted their products through their shop, and the Pennsylvania State Police.
"After we opened our business we had a contract with the Pennsylvania State Police," Twila said. "They had watches for the helicopters for traffic control on the turnpike."
She said the watches were used to time motorists to determine if they were violating the speed limit.
"We opened the business and the state police helicopters started landing in the field right behind the store and the police would be coming in and the neighbors were wondering 'What are the Greenes up to?'," she said, laughing.
Her husband's mechanical aptitude was impressive. "Give it to him in pieces and he would put it back together for you," she said. "He loved it. He really enjoyed it."
How well he did his work was evidenced by the European watch manufacturers who did business with the shop.
"The ironic thing is that most of them contacted him," she said, adding that she doesn't know how that happened since the shop is located in the Westmoreland County countryside.
Another tribute to his ability, she said, came when the Bulova Co. invented the Accutron watch, the first battery-powered watch, for use in the space program. She said her husband was one of the first watchmakers in the area Bulova took to their factory and taught how to repair the new watches.
She said he was proud of what they built together but even more proud of his family -- his wife, their daughter Clara Ann Robare and her husband Harry, of Greensburg, and his grandchildren, John Paul and Aleah Robare.
"That was his life," she said.
He also is survived by a sister, Carol Ann Martin, of Jacksonville, Fla. and two brothers, H.F. "Bob" Greene, of Aiken, S.C., and C.A. "Sam" Greene, of Huntsville, Ala.
Twila said her husband had a good but dry sense of humor; but what she will miss most is their conversations.
"Just having him to talk to because we ran the business together and I would always ask his opinion," she said.
Funeral arrangements were handled by the C. Richard McCauley Funeral Home Inc., 101 S. Fourth St., Youngwood. A funeral service was scheduled for today at 11 a.m. in the funeral home with the Rev. Tim Straling and the Rev. Byron Eisaman officiating. Burial will be in Westmoreland County Memorial Park, Hempfield Township with full military honors accorded by the Armbrust Veterans Association. The family suggests memorial contributions be made to the American Kidney Foundation.
