I have known John since high school in Brighton, Colorado, and we were pretty much inseparable during those years.
John was into HAM radios and drag racing. All summer long, we would go to Rocky Mountain Dragway in Commerce City and had a great time hanging around in the pits with the drivers. One Sunday, the drag strip asked us if we wanted to be “trophy boys”. We were excited that we got to hand out the trophies to the winners of each race. We both thought that was pretty cool. Our favorite car was one called “Old Yeller”. It was owned by a friend of ours. It was a yellow, 1961 Chevy with a 409 cubic inch engine in it. It won most of its races. One weekend, we heard Old Yeller was going to race at the road course in Castle Rock. John and I got tickets and sat on the hill and watched Old Yeller come around the corner where we were sitting and blew up the engine right in front of us. We were so disappointed.
After high school graduation, we joined the Navy together on the “Buddy System”, thinking that the Buddy System meant we would be together for our whole time in the Navy. At least, that’s what the recruiter wanted us to believe. Part of it came true. We went through boot camp together, and we were stationed together after boot camp at Treasure Island in San Francisco to attend radar school together. After that, we thought we would be stationed together, but the “Buddy System” didn’t go that far. John was stationed on the east coast on a destroyer, and I was sent to the west coast on an ammunition ship, so there goes the Navy’s Buddy System.
After our time in the Navy, John came back to Denver but I stayed in California. John became a Brighton Police Officer. One time when I was back in Colorado for a visit, John took me out for a “ride along” in his police car. It was probably against all the rules, but we did it anyway – just like usual!
It's been awhile since John and I have seen each other, but I’ll never forget the memories of the great times we had together. My condolences to John’s family. He was a good man with a big heart, and a good friend.
Larry Schneidmiller
