John is my nephew, but because we were only 8 years apart, he was like a little brother to me. Because his mom and he lived in the same town as his Grandma and I, I got to play with him a lot. We would go under the bridge close to my house and catch tiny frogs in the water and bring them home. I even took him to Girl Scout Camp one summer when I was a camp counselor there in high school. The director of the camp told me one day that John was throwing rocks and she was not happy about it. But all I could think was “What’s wrong with throwing rocks? He wasn’t throwing them at anyone! He’s a kid!” One time I took him to World’s of Fun and lost him! I was frantic! But soon he showed up walking in front of the Zambizi Zinger. He didn’t look worried at all. But he never let me live it down! He teased me mercilessly. I also lost him at the mall in Topeka once. That didn’t help!

As everyone knows, John had a wonderful sense of humor. He talked so softly, most people didn’t hear his jokes in the room, but he always made me laugh! When I found out he had cancer and called him up, he said, “They ran a bunch of tests. The good news is, I’m not pregnant!”

John was a sweet human being. He rode his motorcycle from Arizona to Kansas to visit his grandma, my mom. When I had an electrical problem and posted on Facebook if anyone knew an electrician, John called me up and said, “I’ll do it!” And he rode over to my house and fixed it! Whenever I called to have him come over, he always made the effort to be there if he could.

I will always have a special spot in my heart for him. I can’t believe he’s gone. John, I hope you’re hanging out with your mom and Grandma! I miss you!

John was my beloved older son. I adopted him in 1970 when his mother and I were married. From his third year on, John was determined, patient and (usually) soft spoken. One of my earliest memories of John was one time when he was about six. He had observed someone else in the neighborhood doing cartwheels and decided to try it himself. He would take a good run and launch himself forward and downward. Unfortunately, as he approached the ground, he would pull his arms back, plowing into the ground headfirst! As he was to demonstrate many times in the future, John was undeterred. After his initial failure, he got up, shook himself off, and went at it again! I was finally able to prevent him from further attempts, lest he hurt himself. This kind of raw determination was to become a hallmark of John as he grew.

John was, (usually) a good boy, showing the regular challenges and actings out as he grew. I recall one time, when John had been misbehaving at grade school. I was told that the teacher took John out into the hall, picked him up by his upper arms and proceeded to scold him. I was told that all John said was, “You'd better put me down.!” I shudder to think about what might have happened had the teacher not decided to put him down.

Eventually, John chose to attend Fort Scott, Kansas Junior College, being primarily interested in the College’s baseball team. By this time, I had learned to fly, and I flew John down to Fort Scott with me in an old Cessna 150. We packed up his belongings, fuel and us up to the weight limit and off we went.

When we arrived the Fort Scott airstrip, which was a new airstrip to me, I noticed that it had a bit of a cliff or drop-off at the approach end of the runway. Because of this, my approach was a bit higher than it should have been. For a few moments, I attempted to repair this issue by descending more steeply than usual..

I happened to glance over at John, who have been asleep up to that point; (typical John) he had his feet braced on the aircraft floor and he was raised up off his seat with his back braced against the back of the seat. His eyes were as big as saucers! I decided that it was time to add power, milk the flaps back up, and go around for another approach a bit lower. (It was not my usual behavior to frighten my passengers.)

John, in his sometimes-taciturn manner, said nothing about the event.

As he grew into his teen years. John was very interested in sports, baseball I think being his favorite. His determination and skill served him well in that regard. I was interested in motorcycles, and this interest was picked up by John. We started with a little Honda 150. I then. purchased an old Honda CX500. John got his license, and rode both quite a bit, as did I.

John, Later on, became a police officer. I was, and remain, proud of him! He was a Sergeant with the Atchison, Kansas police force. Continuing his interest in motorcycles, he became a motorcycle officer for the Atchison Police Department as well.

Some years later, John and his wife Natalie moved to Arizona. John decided to go to a motorcycle technical school. After the school, John went to work for Harley-Davidson at several shops. John was a good and dedicated worker. In his usual manner, John did the job consistently and well.

There are many more things I could say about John. I made many of the mistakes that a father might make and perhaps did some good things too. Mostly to his credit, he grew up to be a good, loving, caring. strong and able man.

I loved John, and I love his memory.

God bless him. 

I am so very sorry for our loss of John…

I really enjoyed our conversations when I would go into the service department at HDOS…One of the things John had mentioned several times was his rides to San Diego for lunch…then turn around and ride home…something I had longed to do with John…my love goes out to his family at this time

I was  shocked and deeply saddened when I heard the news of John's passing. May God comfort you and your family in this difficult time.

You all are in our thoughts and prayers.