John Reed VanHyning

1964 - 2017

John Reed VanHyning obituary, 1964-2017, Portales, NM

John VanHyning Obituary

John Reed VanHyning, 53, of Portales, NM died November 21st in Santa Fe.
There are no services planned except the annual memorial service at AmberCare Hospice.
John was born November 13, 1964 in Multnomah Hospital in Portland Oregon to Sheila McGuire VanHyning and John Paul VanHyning. He was the first grandchild of Laura Holste McGuire of Portales and was raised by her there from the age of 6.
He was a graduate of Portales High School in 1983 and then attended the University of New Mexico, graduating in 1990 with a major in Spanish.
He returned to Portales where he was a long-time, active and devoted member of the Fellowship Baptist Church, volunteering his time and energy for building projects, canvassing for the church, and lifting up his voice with joy in the choir.
Until his health failed, John worked at a variety of jobs in the area, among them were: a personal care assistant, a biology lab tech, and a media specialist for long-distance learning at Cannon AFB. He was his grandmother's companion in her later years.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his grandparents, his maternal uncle James, and an infant brother, William.
John is survived by his uncle and aunt, Thomas McGuire and Judy, of Kansas City, and their son, John Tobias McGuire, his aunt Jean McGuire Merritt, of Albuquerque, and his cousins Noah Merritt, Sam Merritt and Isa Merritt O'Donnell
Contributions may be made to the Huntington's Disease Society of America.

Published by Eastern New Mexico News from Nov. 27 to Nov. 28, 2017.
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Memories and Condolences
for John VanHyning

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On this day your spirit transitioned I celebrate your life and the friendship we shared with each other. I continue to pray for a miracle cure for Huntingtons. I will speak your name for the remainder of my days.

Michael Pitts

November 21, 2023

Five years already my friend, hard to believe but true. I miss you but I'm grateful your suffering concluded and I know your spirit lives on in the many lives you touched. I pray you and your Uncle Tom are reunited and celebrate that neither of you are suffering the effects of Huntington's.

Michael Pitts

November 21, 2022

Hard to believe that it has been almost four years now since you left for new adventures in a place not bound by earthly limitations. I think of you so often and I still miss you, but precious memories bring me comfort. I was thinking about your grandma making homemade syrup for our pancakes and also how carefully that small patio at the Berkley Apartments held so many plants that were carefully tended. Lee I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who remembers John fondly and I'm appreciative of that.

Michael Pitts

August 17, 2021

John, it has been two years since your passing. I just wanted to leave a note of remembrance to you and your family. I miss you and I wish I had visited with you but military service prevented that. Sending prayers for your family and closer friends, during this anniversary.

Lee Watson

Friend

November 21, 2019

He was such a sweet and smart guy. I am so sorry for your loss.

Shawne Riley

November 29, 2017

I'm so sorry for your loss. I graduated from high school with John. I remember in the summer of 1978 he and I trying to make a solar hamburger grill using tin foil. Of course I remember his grandmother, the librarian at ENMU. I've thought of John off and on all of these years wondering how he was doing. I miss you, John.

Lee Watson

November 28, 2017

God Speed my dear friend. We have been friends since you moved to Portales to live with your grandmother and we were 6 years old. It doesn't seem possible that 47 years have passed since then, but indeed they have. I remember all of the good times that we had growing up, building the underground fort (how it didn't collapse and kill us is a miracle), the water reservoir and piping system we built for our city and the bike trips that were so far from town that we would have gotten "killed" had we been found out. You were the brother I never had and even though I've told you a million times I love you brother, I want to say it one more time. We let the joy and curiosity of boys of the 60's rule our world and what a world it was. If I had been given only one wish that I could grant to anyone it would have been to make you whole after the dreaded disease took over , but I'm sure you know that already. I'm glad for all our time together, even those times recently when you were in the care center and I would help you "escape" for a little while. I will never forget you no matter how much time passes. I am grateful your suffering in this earthly life is done. I pray that work through the Huntington's Disease Society will result in a breakthrough for this condition and want to impress upon other potential readers of my comments that through www.smile.amazon.com you can select the HDSA which will receive a portion of the sales proceeds. Until we meet again John V.....

Michael Pitts

November 27, 2017

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