John and I were married on July 31, 1996.  I had always known about John and remembered seeing him at Grandma Carroll's when I would have piano lessons with her as a youngster.  John was 10 years older than I so I can remember thinking he was so good looking and so "cool".  I reconnected with John when he was staying at the Pitney Ranch in Hayden.  John and I had an immediate attraction and somehow realized we needed each other.  I'm not sure it was love that brought us together but definitely a need for one another.  I needed a strong man who would be there to help me and he needed the softer side of a woman to help him.  I do know that we fell in love over time, but our first attraction was based on need.                                                                       John was wonderful to my children and they fell in love with him.  They called him "Johnny".  I remember his friends making fun of him for being called "Johnny" and he would say "only my kids can call me that".  We had a lot of good times in those early years of our marriage.  John treated my children as if they were his own and he loved them .  He taught Brandon how to be a man and loved Brianna like a princess.  No sugar coating here though;  he didn't put up with nonsense.  He played barbie dolls with Brianna and he fished and hunted with Brandon.  On Halloween one year the kids' carved pumpkin was stolen and smashed in the street and it broke their hearts.  The next year John taught them to get a ladder and set the pumpkins on the roof of the house, so they couldn't be stolen.  My kids still think that pumpkins should be put on roof tops.  There are so many memories of our life together,working, raising children,loving and fighting.                                                                                                           John worked at the coal mine for the first year after we were married and he worked graveyards, we lived right next to the high school, his sleep was always interrupted.  This made John "very" grumpy.  I finally told him that he was going to have to work somewhere else.  He started his own business.  John was never afraid of work.  He would work day and night in all kinds of weather.  Everyone I talked to would tell me he was the best welder they had ever seen.  John took pride in his work.                                                                                                Our married life together was filled with ups and downs like any other marriage and we had good times and bad times like any other marriage.  I remember times when I wanted to beat him to death and he would give me that dimpled grin of his and all my "madness" would go away.  I also remember times when he made me so mad that it lasted for days.  I know I did the same to him. John could be stubborn at times but I could usually talk "sense" into him, given enough time.  I think that some of Johns best years were spent with the kids and I and even though we "failed" at the marriage I always kept John in my heart.  Yes, there are many memories of John,  I will probably keep writing until I run out or someone tells me to quit. 

Johns favorite song was "Freebird" by Lynard Syknard.  His favorite dessert was German Chocolate Cake.  He loved meatloaf, pickled eggs and chocolate covered cherries. His favorite saying was always "I am what I am".  He always loved watching old western movies on television.