Deceased March 16, 2014
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In Memory
John often said the first best day of his life was when his father, an attorney and one of the Arizona delegates, took him along to Franklin Roosevelt’s inauguration where he witnessed unforgettable political leadership. John was born in Prescott, Ariz., whose dry mountainy air would help his father’s lung ailment; he wanted his son to go back East to experience his roots. At Amherst John was on the wrestling team, skilled in math, interested in history, wanting to learn—the first peer many of us met who was convincingly interested in the views of others—this seasoned with his cool dry wit.
In his spare time John designed a Lloyd Wright-type house and invited three of his Chi Phi fraternity brothers, Al Eaton ’44 from Maine, John Burrows ’44 from New York and this friend from Massachusetts, to come and live in his home for the summer, with his mother’s wonderful cooking, while the four of us worked together 8 to 5 each day to build this house; the only professional at hand was a master chimney mason.
John served in the Army Air Corp as a very clear navigation instructor. Then married to his high school sweetheart, Betty Ogg (who was a member of the most ancient ethno-cultural group in the American southwest), he designed and built another home in Tucson, where he studied for his law degree. Years later I visited him in the third home he designed and built, in Prescott, where he was a principal in his law firm. His pride was in explaining to me his arrangement of accessible subfloor piping that provided remarkable radiant heating. Then he turned to me, “But Betty and our family are the best-best gift I’ll ever have.”
He was an example to me of the supple strong, courteous balance I have spent my life consciously striving to build, to this day. My tears for the loss of him are suffused by gratitude for having found him and remembering him for his own sake and for you who read this farewell.
John is survived by his daughter and two sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Andrew J. Foley ’44