January 19
January 19
Remembering John Richards Crellin III
By John McGowan
I met John in 7th grade when he came to the village school in Chatham. We became friends and the friendship lasted for 60+ years. We had a lot of adventures and good times in that span. And I respected him and admired him in so many ways.
One memorable time with John was November 22, 1963. We had made arrangements to go bowling that day. After school on most days we had the habit of wandering around the school to see if there was anything going on. That particular day there were students and faculty in small groups talking and some of them were crying. Wow, JFK had been shot and killed! Anyway, we decided to go bowling as planned. We were the only people at Chatham Bowl besides the owner and he had the news reports blaring over the sound system. We only bowled two games, because it was a little depressing with the background news.
John always cared about other people. At some point during college years, we had gone to a party at Queechy at someone’s cottage. We had both gone outside to answer nature’s call when in the dark I tripped over a big rock. My body wasn’t hurt, but the beer can in my hand came up and hit me in the nose breaking it. Blood flowed. John brought me back to Chatham and I went into the 1811 bar to clean up, before he dropped me at my home.
John was very even tempered. One time we were drinking at the Peint O Gwrw. Someone came in to ask if anyone had a motorcycle parked out on Main St. We went out and someone had backed into John’s bike and knocked it over. The mirror was damaged and something else was twisted. I would have been “wild”, but John just took it all in stride and decided he wanted a police report. Boy that old BMW motorcycle weighed a ton!
He was very loyal to people he had relationships with. By that I mean I never heard him say anything negative about anyone he was married to or living with, even when the relationship was over. In fact, in general he never really “ran down” anybody, although he did get a laugh about people doing stuff that was hard to understand.
John’s family “had money”, but he was always very down to earth. He was always put off by people who thought they were better than others due to affluence or position.
I don’t know if John was Best Man for anyone else, but he was supposed to be mine for my two marriages. The first time he happily agreed to stand up for me. A few days later, he said what was that wedding date? It turned out he had planned a cross-country motorcycle trip! He was sorry, but I let him off the hook. The second time I got married, everything was all nailed down with the understanding he would be in France up until the day before. Wedding day morning one of his sisters called to say the flight had been cancelled. Each time I had another friend I could call on to be Best Guy!
John was curious about everything. And we often talked about history, philosophy, books, and people we both knew. He could play and take a joke as well as anyone I knew. But he wasn’t mean or vindictive that I ever saw. Sometimes, I did hear from him about people who had let him down, so it wasn’t like he saw everyone as wonderful. But he accepted people for who they were.
The last time we talked about books it involved “Austerlitz” by Sebald. which I had given him; we exchanged books often. He was very excited about the book and said he loved it, but as he went on I realized he was mixing things up with some other book. It was so very sad for me that day!
One thing I guess he wondered about for years was why I didn’t hang out that much at Queechy Lake when we were growing up. So, one day about 5 years ago he asked me that question. I told him the reason was that in high school I didn’t know how to swim (I learned at college) and I didn’t want to ruin people’s time by drowning. He got the biggest kick out of that.
Tanstafl (there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch)! I think he said he learned that at college.
I’ll miss John for as long as I live and I’m sorry I’ll never again hear him say, “McGowan, you don’t have enough to worry about!”
By John McGowan
I met John in 7th grade when he came to the village school in Chatham. We became friends and the friendship lasted for 60+ years. We had a lot of adventures and good times in that span. And I respected him and admired him in so many ways.
One memorable time with John was November 22, 1963. We had made arrangements to go bowling that day. After school on most days we had the habit of wandering around the school to see if there was anything going on. That particular day there were students and faculty in small groups talking and some of them were crying. Wow, JFK had been shot and killed! Anyway, we decided to go bowling as planned. We were the only people at Chatham Bowl besides the owner and he had the news reports blaring over the sound system. We only bowled two games, because it was a little depressing with the background news.
John always cared about other people. At some point during college years, we had gone to a party at Queechy at someone’s cottage. We had both gone outside to answer nature’s call when in the dark I tripped over a big rock. My body wasn’t hurt, but the beer can in my hand came up and hit me in the nose breaking it. Blood flowed. John brought me back to Chatham and I went into the 1811 bar to clean up, before he dropped me at my home.
John was very even tempered. One time we were drinking at the Peint O Gwrw. Someone came in to ask if anyone had a motorcycle parked out on Main St. We went out and someone had backed into John’s bike and knocked it over. The mirror was damaged and something else was twisted. I would have been “wild”, but John just took it all in stride and decided he wanted a police report. Boy that old BMW motorcycle weighed a ton!
He was very loyal to people he had relationships with. By that I mean I never heard him say anything negative about anyone he was married to or living with, even when the relationship was over. In fact, in general he never really “ran down” anybody, although he did get a laugh about people doing stuff that was hard to understand.
John’s family “had money”, but he was always very down to earth. He was always put off by people who thought they were better than others due to affluence or position.
I don’t know if John was Best Man for anyone else, but he was supposed to be mine for my two marriages. The first time he happily agreed to stand up for me. A few days later, he said what was that wedding date? It turned out he had planned a cross-country motorcycle trip! He was sorry, but I let him off the hook. The second time I got married, everything was all nailed down with the understanding he would be in France up until the day before. Wedding day morning one of his sisters called to say the flight had been cancelled. Each time I had another friend I could call on to be Best Guy!
John was curious about everything. And we often talked about history, philosophy, books, and people we both knew. He could play and take a joke as well as anyone I knew. But he wasn’t mean or vindictive that I ever saw. Sometimes, I did hear from him about people who had let him down, so it wasn’t like he saw everyone as wonderful. But he accepted people for who they were.
The last time we talked about books it involved “Austerlitz” by Sebald. which I had given him; we exchanged books often. He was very excited about the book and said he loved it, but as he went on I realized he was mixing things up with some other book. It was so very sad for me that day!
One thing I guess he wondered about for years was why I didn’t hang out that much at Queechy Lake when we were growing up. So, one day about 5 years ago he asked me that question. I told him the reason was that in high school I didn’t know how to swim (I learned at college) and I didn’t want to ruin people’s time by drowning. He got the biggest kick out of that.
Tanstafl (there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch)! I think he said he learned that at college.
I’ll miss John for as long as I live and I’m sorry I’ll never again hear him say, “McGowan, you don’t have enough to worry about!”