John Christopher Babauta

Ventura -

It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our brother, John C. Babauta. John died suddenly on July 23, 2024.

John was born on December 11, 1958, and our mom carried him as we crossed the ocean on a military ship from their native Guam, via Honolulu, and to Port Hueneme, California, where he was born. The family grew up in Oxnard, CA soon thereafter.

The family he was raised in was one of boundless love and energy. It was a solid middle-class working family with 9 kids whose parents instilled an ethos of caring for one another, compassion for fellow human beings, hard work together with an emphasis on ceaseless curiosity to learn new things.

That curiosity led John to join the US Navy after graduating from Channel Islands High school in Oxnard, CA. John was following in the footsteps of his father Jose, a Pearl Harbor survivor during WWII and a veteran of wars in Korea and Guadalcanal. John enthusiastically enjoyed his duty stations in Japan, among other places.

John later applied the skills he learned in the Navy towards his machinist profession, which he honed up until the time that he quit working.

John is survived by his wife, Janel and his daughters Kristen and Tanya, as well as 6 grandchildren. He is predeceased by his mother, Rose, his father, Jose, and his sister, Mary.

He also leaves behind his brothers and sisters, Teri, Rita, Joe, Henry, Angie, Kim and Pete.

We all acknowledge that life can be fleeting and that time can slip away from good people who didn't get the opportunity to say things while we are alive. But it doesn't mean that we ever stopped loving one another. The good times we had as a family are memories that can't be altered or taken away. In this crazy world, those are the memories that we will cherish.