A year or so after John was born the family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, then on to El Paso, Albuquerque,and then Tulsa, OK before John entered elementary school. After a short time in Dallas, Shreveport, LA and St. Louis, Mo John entered junior high in Bartlesville, OK where he finished off his high school years and attended Oklahoma University and Oklahoma State University. Not one for letting the grass grow under his feet, he and his fiance, Cari moved from Tulsa to Tucson in 1989 where he eventually bought a shipping and mailing business from his sister. In the mid-90's he and Cari moved to Albuquerque where his parents were living at the time and opened an art gallery. After the birth of their two sons, Donovan and David, John set down roots in rural Oklahoma where he was a volunteer fireman and active in the local school board eventually serving as President. In 2004 John and his family had blossomed with a daughter and another son when they all decided to move back to Arizona to be closer to his aging parents. After a successful rain gutter business fell on hard times due to the economy, John worked mostly in sales, most recently for Desert Son in Tucson. John adored his children and tried to be at every sports event, school band or choir performance. His favorite subjects to anyone he spoke to were his kids, always beaming proudly when talking about their accomplishments. He loved being a cub scout den leader as evidenced by the following post on Facebook: "My family loved your brother John very much. I was his Assistant Den Leader at Pack 321 and took over as Den Leader so he could go on to be Cubmaster. My son had difficulty making friends and John made him feel at ease and helped him along the way. John had a lot to do with my son and other boys having wonderful memories in Scouting. Today my son Brandon is an Eagle Scout with Troop 301 and I know John was at the root of it. He brightened the life of many people."