I worked with John during the night shift in “Test Bay 5” back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. He was so good at repairing the special custom ceramic and conformally-coated circuit cards that you had to look at them under UV light to even see that they’d been repaired. Here are a few random memories from long ago:

⁃ John and Dennis would have long and spirited political debates while always working hard at their tasks. I was impressed by their knowledge and debate skills. It was spirited, but respectful. I wish that everyone could agree to disagree as well as they did!

⁃ One summer night we were outside taking a break, John with his customary cigarette and Mountain Dew. We watched the Perseids meteor shower for a while.

⁃ One night the lone FPO security guard wanted to run down to the nearby convenience store. He asked if John could man the desk for him while he was gone. John grinned and said, “Sure, if you let me have your gun while you’re gone!”. The guard didn’t take him up on the offer.

⁃ When not debating with Dennis, John loved to play country music while working. He’d sing along, of course. I heard some country music with the most hilarious lyrics that way. At the other end of the Test Bay, Sue would play rock’n’roll. It got loud at times, but was much more fun than day shift.

⁃ One summer night John came back in from his break after being outside. I noticed a very large beetle stuck on the back of his shirt. John said, “Let’s put him in the vacuum chamber and see what happens!” Answer: nothing very spectacular. Did not explode as we thought might happen. Oh well!

⁃ Once the day shift techs complained that night shift was not contributing their fair state of repairs and other work. John got out the Log Book, collected info on the relevant work, and proved that the two night shift techs got much more work done than all four of the day shift techs. The key was no bosses and no interruptions. Night shift rules! =^D

⁃ One night John took me aside and said “Brian, Theresa’s on her way here from California, and I’m gonna marry her!”. As you all now know, the rest is history!

Once you got John to open up, he would tell you story after story. Two of them that I remembered were that when he was stationed in Japan, he learned to speak Japanesse but apparently he had a southern accent because the person he learned it from was from the southern part of Japan. 

And working on a sailboat as a child with his dad. He said his siblings and him would go with their dad to work on this sailboat. But it wasn't until he reached adulthood that he realized after talking to his mother, that his dad never had a sailboat. It was just a way for their dad to bond with the kids.