OBITUARY
John died on July 29 at the JR aged 81. He was born in Tamworth in 1932. After college, he worked on farms, and on construction sites, and drove trucks. He joined the army in 1957, where he served with the Life Guards in Windsor, in Herford in Germany, and with the UN troops in Cyprus until 1966.
He then lived in Germany for seven years with his first wife and their son Desmond, working in a chemical factory and then as a telex operator with a British military unit. After they divorced, John returned to England and came to Oxford where his brother lived. He worked for 22 years as a hallman at Merton College.
In 1975, John married his second wife, Jean, whom he had met while volunteering at the St John’s Ambulance. When he retired in 1997, they moved to a flat in Great Clarendon Street. They soon became key members of the community, especially the over-60s Club. John cared for Jean until her death and in 2012 was elected as a committee member of the Jericho Community Association. He was also member of the Royal British Legion, the Life Guards Association, and the Grenadier Guards Association. For several years he was a standard-bearer on Remembrance Day for the Burma Star Association.
Earlier this year, he moved to Marston Court care home. John was well known for his robust good sense, his endless supply of stories, his booming laughter and his positive outlook on life.