Ex-high school football star ran sheet metal shop

12/15/2006

ERIE, Mich. - Jack A. "Joe" Faunce, 89, a high school football standout who spent his professional life working in his family's near-downtown Toledo sheet metal business, eventually as owner, died Wednesday in Toledo Hospital. He had been in failing health for several years, his son Richard said.

Mr. Faunce retired in 1982 as owner and operator of Faunce & Faunce Sheet Metal Co., 2012 North 14th St. His three sons took over the business from him, as he'd taken over from his father, Lee, about 1970.

Mr. Faunce was a graduate of the former Point Place High School - where, at 135 pounds, he became the star fullback - when he went to work for the business, which provided sheet metal for heating and ventilating.

He learned the trade as an apprentice and became a sheet metal journeyman. By the time he ran the 10-employee shop, his chief duty was estimating.

The business, founded in 1906, was on Washington Street for many years but was forced to move in 1964, displaced by the construction of I-75.

Mr. Faunce believed that part of his role was to keep the family tradition going, his son Richard said.

"[Faunce & Faunce] was one of the first sheet metal companies. It was one of the oldest tin-knocker outfits in the Toledo area," his son said.

The business closed in 2002.

Though Mr. Faunce owned a family business, he knew how to separate business from home and recreation.

"He was a very gentle man, yet all business - straight to the point," his son said. "He loved his family and loved his kids and loved the family reunions, [but] when it was business time, it was business time."

Mr. Faunce was a longtime member and a former officer of the Toledo Ice Yacht Club. He bowled for many years in the Point Place Businessmen's League.

He was a Mason and was a member of the Harbor Light Lodge, the Zenobia Shrine, and the Oriental Band.

He liked to fish and hunt and spend time at the family cottage near Grayling, Mich. In retirement, he and his wife traveled widely, visiting Maine, Florida and Arizona; Rome, the Bahamas, and Hawaii.

Surviving are his wife, Virginia, whom he married in 1940; sons, Jack, Jr., Richard, and Barry; six grandchildren; and seven great grandchildren.

Services will be held at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the David R. Jasin Funeral Home, where the body will be at 2 p.m. today. Masonic services will begin at 7 tonight in the mortuary.

The family suggests tributes to Shriners Hospitals for Children in care of the Zenobia Shrine in Toledo.