He spent the first twenty years of his life following his father around the world from army base to army base. The family spent time in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, New Jersey, Ohio, the Panama Canal Zone, and the Philippines. The family ended up in Ohio and that is where he finished high school and college. After earning a masters degree from Ohio State University he followed the love of his life to California and married her there in 1939.
In the time prior to World War II, jobs were scarce so he worked odd jobs, including delivering refrigerators. Later he found work at a vitamin company.
He served in the infantry during World War II, participating in amphibious landings in Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio and southern France. He earned a Silver Star near Mignano, Italy.
After the war he landed a job with Standard Oil of California (now Chevron) and spent the next thirty years working in the oil industry. His work took him from Santa Fe Springs to Taft to Signal Hill (all in California) as well as brief stints in New Orleans and Edmonton.
John and his wife, Adele, retired to Laguna Woods in Orange County. He passed away on June 25, 1996 and is buried at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, San Diego, California. At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife of 56 years, nine children and nineteen grandchildren. (He did not live to see any of his great-grandchildren. There are seventeen great-grandchildren, although that is not yet a final count.)
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