Honoring the Memory
of Those
We Love

John and I became friends in junior high school and stayed friends through college and for many years after that. Sadly, we drifted apart as life got busy and we had not spoken for some years. I will never forget the many adventures and misadventures that we shared. We were stupid teenagers together, with all that that entails. We made mistakes and helped each other pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and continue, while laughing at what we had just done. He sand at my wedding and I celebrated at his. Losing him leaves a hole in my heart that will never heal. I miss my big, singing friend who I could talk with into the wee hours of the morning when we were young and the world was a new place to explore.

Dear Jean, I can't tell you how saddened I was to hear of John's passing. I enjoyed our time singing together in the opera, and in church. John was certainly one of a kind! I always valued his work, and his opinion as a musician. While I could never prove it, I thunk John had a soft spot in his heart for me, too. My deepest sympathy to you.

I first met John while painting sets for the Savoyards. It was the first time I had painted the set fir the Mikado. John had helped design and build the set. He also was playing the Lord High Executioner in the show. I did my thing, he declared it good and we worked together many times afterwards. We became good friends. John was big, bold and brash and was one of the few people that invoked my stage name. Even after the theater we reminded that we were family. I will miss John, his big, rich voice, his openess and his friendship.