My little brother John

Friends and Family,

John was my little brother, eleven months younger. My mother told me we used to play together as toddlers under the kitchen table. We would drive our trucks under her feet. I was Sam, John was Mac.

As we grew older and sibling rivalry became a cruel reality I would taunt my little brother; he was a pest wanting to join our “girls only” club. We would put him through elaborate, mortifying initiation procedures only to deny him entrance into our club, his gender perpetually excluding him from membership.

After he was given a BB gun for his 8^th birthday he used to shoot birds in our backyard. We had screaming, kicking, scratching and rolling on the ground fights when his endeavors ended in bird fatalities. John was a hunter from an early age.

As teenagers our battles became less physical and more psychological. I didn’t stand a chance. That acerbic wit for which he would become famous was honed in high school. He also became famous for pulling a prank on the principal, which involved borrowed blood from a laboratory and a faked injury arising from the principal swatting his butt with a paddle. He was a high school legend at 15.

As adults my “little” brother became my “big” brother. My advisor, my protector, the one the family called in an emergency. If there was one person I could depend on it was my brother. If there was one certainty in my life it was my brother. After my son Bryce and his wife Marcia moved to Oakland my brother and Jacqui welcomed them into their home and included them in their close circle of friends. My brother and Jacqui enriched their lives in so many ways. John encouraged Bryce to obtain his pilot’s license and included him on his annual abalone diving trips to Mendocino. When John purchased the Storch he offered Bryce and his friend Brett, an experienced aerobatic pilot, the adventure of flying this WWII replica from the Midwest to Utah. It was an offer they couldn’t refuse and an exploit they will always remember. Bryce and Marcia flew to Boulder often to spend time at the cabin with Jacqui and John. It was the first place they took their new baby Eva to visit when she was only a few months old. It was also the first place I took my son to visit when he was only a few months old.

John was a very busy man - he created and ran his own multi-faceted empire. He wanted to share the many blessings in his life with all of us and enrich all of our lives as well. We are all living testimony to how well he succeeded in that endeavor. I thought we would have more time together after he retired and moved to the ranch. We all did. Now we are left with memories. Thank you for sharing yours.

Nancy Breslin