John was born in the Moore General Hospital in Grasmere (now Goffstown) on June 6, 1947.  The hospital was torn down in the late 1980's, early 1990's and the Police Station replaced it.  He was delivered by Dr. Albert Snay of Goffstown.  When John was in 2nd grade, he broke his right arm and had difficulty writing his school papers, and just switched over to his left hand.  From then on he was a lefty.
John held various little jobs as a young boy such as delivering "Grit" newspapers and helping the nearby farmers with haying and chores.  When he was around 14 years old, he was involved in a serious haying accident that put around 20 or more stitches in his leg.  The huge rake that was pulled by the tractor somehow he lost his balance and it gouged his leg severely.
He loved cars, tinkering with them and was a little heavy footed on the gas pedal, though I cannot recall him having any speeding tickets.
He dropped out of his junior year in high school and enlisted in the army.  He went on to Viet Nam and served us well there.  Never did I ever hear one word about his experiences there, and never were his temper or his decisions unbalanced  due to his  service there.  He did entertain the troops, keeping them lighthearted during their grusome battles.  They nicknamed him "Hollywood."  A lot of folks believe he received the name from his stage presence at karaoke shows, but he had the name before his interests in karaoke.