Jonathan Paul Wessler

“The most damaging phrase in the language is ‘We’ve always done it this way’.”

– Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, “The Mother of COBOL”

Jonathan Paul Wessler, 75, Fishers, passed away May 9, 2020. He was born in Schenetady, NY to Arnold and Dorothea (Bretscher) Wessler; and step-mother Lorraine Wessler.

The son of a Lutheran minister, his formative years where in St. Louis where he ran cross-country and played sandlot baseball which developed into a life-long love of baseball.  As a child of the 1950s and 60’s he was a fan of baseball in its heyday, particularly for the St. Louis Cardinals.  His love for the Cardinals was matched only by his disdain for the New York Yankees.

Jon attended Valparaiso University in Indiana.  A member of Sigma Chi fraternity, he enjoyed life but was studious graduating with a mathematics degree.  A fateful event occurred when he saw a bulletin board job posting to work for the US Army in Indianapolis.  After a successful phone interview and the day after graduation, his parents put him on a bus to Indianapolis to start his career the following Monday.  Note that in 1967 times were different – he had no car and slept on a Fraternity Brother’s couch until he received his first paychecks to get on his feet.

Jon’s government career started at the US Army Finance & Accounting Center (USAFAC) at Ft. Harrison in Lawrence, Indiana.  Computers were still very new in 1967 with few people understanding their inner workings.  Jon joined a special intern program which leveraged Purdue University Computer Science (CS) courses to train students in the latest technology.  The goal was to develop civil service employees with the necessary skills to lead and modernize the Army’s ancient computer systems; some of which dated back decades and were based on punch cards running on obsolete 1950s era machines.  Jon was also asked to help train the people who supported those systems. Beyond the required classes, Jon took the initiative to finish his Masters degree at Purdue in 1970.

As a young man in the late 1960s, Jon joined the US Army Reserves in support of medical hospitals, serving until 1974.  While at USAFAC, he pioneered many computer programming techniques, particularly with the COBOL programming language.  He served on the COBOL IEEE standards board and became an instructor teaching a generation of programmers in the 1970s and 1980s (in addition to his normal duties of writing major Army computer systems on machines with less memory than a modern smart-phone).

Along the way in the government, he formed lifelong friendships, particularly with Tony and Sue Amico who also worked at USAFAC. He enjoyed softball leagues, and developed a passion for bowling.  He regularly bowled in winter leagues from the 1980s into the 2000s with the American Bowling Congress (ABC) where he competed in tournaments and enjoyed competition with friends.

Jon met Barbara Rose Johnson through work and the two quickly fell in love.  The daughter of a race car driver/owner and Indy 500 crew chief (Bob Johnson) and government supervisor (Alma Johnson), Barbara (Barb) had tenacity and grit as she raised her two sons (Rob and Joe (Dan) Wilson) as a single mother in the 1960s.  Barb worked hard, but the 1960s was not a kind time for single mothers without a college degree.  However, Jon led with his heart and upon marriage he raised the rambunctious Rob and Joe with love as his own.  He even endured Barb’s studious younger sister Sonya Johnson and as a family, they thrived and enjoyed a new life.  Jon and Barb had their son, Mike, in 1974 and lived in Indianapolis before moving to Carmel, Indiana in 1984.

Jon and family flourished in Carmel in the 1980s and 1990s.  His sons Rob and Joe met their wives Marsha and Angie; and Jon was blessed with grandchildren (Rob/Marsha – Zach and Travis Wilson; Joe/Angie – Tim and Emily Wilson).  He raised his son Mike playing a myriad of youth sports (baseball, football, basketball, swimming, horseback riding) and despite no discernable athletic skill on Mike’s part; the two had a great time and bonded.  Barb stayed busy as a neighborhood socialite which counterbalanced Jon’s more reserved demeaner, but they both loved each other and their family.

With Mike in college at Purdue following his father’s computer footsteps, Jon retired from government in 1996 after 29 years of service.  Having been promoted into management at the new Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), Jon managed network and database teams as a Division Chief.  Leaving a legacy of both Rob and Joe working at USAFAC/DFAS, and later followed by his son Mike and grandchildren Tim and Emily, Jon entered into the private sector as a COBOL programmer – a return to computer programming which was his passion.

Jon worked at Conseco insurance company for nearly 20 years as a COBOL programmer in both consultant and employee capacities.  For fun, Jon was lead author of a 900+ page book, COBOL Unleashed by SAMS Publishing in 1998 where he wrote with his sons Joe and Mike, and friends Tony Amico and Bill Pierce; with a dedication to his wife Barb.  Jon was also a professor for Advanced COBOL at University of Indianapolis as he taught a programming language older than most of the students; yet was still in high demand (particularly during Y2K).

Barb passed away from cancer in 2009 to the family’s immense sadness.  Fortunately, the sadness was somewhat blunted by the marriage of Mike to Angela (Imel) in 2010 and the shortly thereafter the birth of their son Garrick Wessler.  Jon followed Mike and Angela with their move to Fishers as he purchased a home on the Geist Reservoir in their neighborhood.  The family enjoyed many great evenings grilling out, boating, fishing, sending time at the pool, and vacations as he played an active role in Mike, Angela, and Garrick’s life.  Jon also met and became friends with Francis Rife as the two frequently traveled with Florida and Jamaica being favorite locations.  Jon retired (a second time) from private sector and spent his remaining days with family and friends as he enjoyed travel, puzzles, books, and Indianapolis Indians baseball games.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and loving wife of 36 years, Barbara.

Survivors include his sons, Mike, Joe, and Rob; and his grandchildren Zach, Tim, Travis, Emily, and Garrick; and siblings Becky, Marty, Steve, and Peter Wessler.