Hayden Gerard,  14, and Benjamin Chad, 11, each have their own unique versions of John’s best qualities. John’s humor, intelligence and generous affection shines in his son, Hayden. Hayden has his dad to thank for his love of comedies, passion for history, and his amazing memory of historical facts and movie quotes. Ben has John’s easy going , lovable nature and natural flying ability. Just like John, he has never waivered from his determination to be firefighter when he grows up. Their favorite memories with their dad include camping, flying, dirt bike riding, shooting, traveling, bagels, building the tree house and zipline, watching the comedy and history channels and playing football.

 

John met Kam after being tricked by his niece, Samantha, into driving her to school one day. The ploy began with missing the bus followed by a mandatory walk by Uncle John into the classroom to meet her teacher. They married in June of 1996 in Big Bear, where they lived, loved and laughed together for 17 years.

 

John’s love of flying began when he was just a teenager, and his passion was contagious. Many a pilot (including Kam) got the bug after soaring through the clouds with our favorite aviator. John earned his instrument, and multi engine ratings,  and routinely passed the written commercial exam just for fun.  He especially loved mountain flying and cross country trips to Idaho, Florida, the Osh Kosh airshow, Mexico and the Bahamas.  He passed his love of aviation to his entire family and many friends, who also suscribed  to John’s mantra, “It’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on.”

 

John knew he wanted to be a fireman ever since he was a child. He was practically a kid, when hired onto the Orange County Fire Department at the age of 19.  The latter part of his 32 year career was spent at John Wayne Airport Crash and Rescue, where he could combine his two passions for fire fighting and flying. John was often envied as “the guy who flew to work”, practically taxiing to the front door of his station.

 

The baby of the family, John was loved, adored and sometimes tormented by his older siblings, Jim, Jerry and Laurie. With enough years separating John’s birth from the other children, his mom, Patricia, was able to shower him with attention. John was a good natured, easy child who grew to have a special bond with his father Jerry. At a young age, he started working with his dad at the airplane shop, and continued to overhaul cylinders at their family business even after starting the fire department. It wasn’t until John’s dad, Jerry, passed away that John stopped spending all his days off at the shop.