BENNETT-- John Richard Post age 69, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, July 21, 2020 at his home. John was born on April 27, 1951 in Madison to Richard and Agnes (McCoy) Post. His childhood was spent on Madison's west side on Commonwealth Ave. He attended Blessed Sacrament Grade School and served as an altar boy at Blessed Sacrament Church. John attended West High School in Madison as part of the class of 1969. In the summer of 1969, he met the love of his life, Valerie Griffin, in Madison. December 2020 would have been their 50th anniversary of living their life together. John began his early adult years working at Bill's Grocery in Shorewood in Madison. In fall of 1970, he traveled to southern California to visit his only brother who was attending UCLA. He went to work for C H Baker Shoes and quickly was offered a position as a store manager. His future wife, Valerie, joined him in California in December 1970 and they shared a house in Hermosa Beach with his brother and another college student. It was a great place to be a young adult, just 2 blocks off the beach with an ocean view, but John missed Wisconsin family and weather, so returned to Madison in 1972, working first as a delivery driver for Rennebohm's Rexall Drug chain and then in maintenance at Manchester's department store on the Capital Square. John joined the Laborer's Union thru a referral from a brother-in-law and began work for E. Patti Construction to participate in building the First Wisconsin Plaza building on the Square in Madison. They erected scaffolding and sprayed fireproofing inside and plaster outside on this significant Madison building. He discovered this reawakened the joy of looking at things from 'up high' that he had first experienced when working as a teenager in his father's house painting business. John's final job in Madison was spraying insulation on the UW Hospital complex. He moved to Honey Lake, WI with Val in 1976 and transferred to the Milwaukee Union where he worked high rise scaffolding. Most people fear height, but John loved it, which allowed him to work on many significant projects in Southeast Wisconsin such as scaffolding the entire Milwaukee County Courthouse, and the Locust Ct and Arlington Ct buildings in Milwaukee and the Racine County Courthouse. He scaffolded St Mary's Catholic Church in Burlington, WI and St Joseph's Catholic Church in La Crosse, WI. He participated in scaffolding the inside of a boiler and a coal silo at Oak Creek Power Plant in the Milwaukee area and a coal gasification plant in Beulah, North Dakota. When a concrete fin from the parking structure on the Milwaukee Courthouse fell onto the freeway, he was one of the crew that cabled the remaining fins to the structure to keep them from falling. His father had instilled in him a love of fishing and woodworking, so in 1983 he combined these two loves with his love of nature and moved to Douglas County in northwest Wisconsin. He and his wife erected a commercial grade building with the intent to raise nightcrawlers commercially, realizing quickly this was not right for them. They began to explore the Arts and Crafts industry first with John cutting synthetic fur fabric for Val to create stuffed animals and began their business 'Just the Two of Us', traveling the Art/Craft circuit. Achieving some success, John began to design and manufacture toys from hardwood which quickly replaced the stuffed animals! He marketed his work at Art Fairs throughout the upper Midwest, traveling with his wife to art shows in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa as well as Wisconsin. During these years, he also worked as a cabinet maker in a shop in Hayward, WI and at a wood processing plant in Superior, WI. Over the years he created many other hardwood wares such as occasional tables and cutting boards but the true love was always hardwood toys and doll furniture. John's skill has brought much joy to thousands of children (and adults) and his work will be sorely missed by his many followers. He was a gentle soul with a quick wit and was loved by anyone he touched. He is survived by his loving wife and nearly lifelong companion Valerie. Other survivors include his sister Barbara (Bill) Jordan of Madison, brothers-in-law William R III (Barbara) Jordan of Madison and Timothy Holton of Wausau, Gregory (Carol) Griffin of Madison, Thomas (Diane) Griffin of Oakdale, Neil "Nick" Griffin (Kenneth Miller) of Richmond, CA; sisters-in-law Lee Ann (Herbert) Jensen of Columbus, Victoria (Loren) Wildes of Warrens, Kathleen (Juris) Valters of Jackson, Rosemary (George) Travis of Darien, Deborah (Michael) Ryan of Ft Myers, FL and Madison, WI, and Rebecca (Thomas) Collins of De Forest; many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews, cousins, other relatives and friends. John was preceded in death by his parents, father-in-law and mother-in-law Russell and Doris Griffin, one brother James, two sisters Mary Ann (Neal) Mix and Pamela Holton; brother-in-law Russell E. Griffin Jr., niece Barbara Schira, nephew Mark Wildes and nephew-in-law Allan Roof; many aunts and uncles. Due to Covid-19 a gathering for inurnment will be in La Grange Cemetery, Tomah in the spring of 2021. He taught many to fish, work with wood, laugh and have fun. He loved to give tractor rides on his old Farmall 'H'. "Uncle John", with his happy and teasing face and gentle, patient manner will be dearly missed by this entire family. Online condolences may be made at jensenfuneralandcremation.com. Jensen Funeral & Cremation Columbus 920-623-5850