John Firebaugh

Columbus, Ohio - John Firebaugh, age 90, passed away on June 5. John is survived by his wife of 54 years, Dr. Francille (Maloch) Firebaugh, and over 20 nieces and nephews. John was the youngest of nine children, and he is predeceased by his eight siblings: sisters, Della Daugherty, Anne Australia Baldridge, and Marian Vermillion; and brothers, George Lawrence Firebaugh, Wyman Firebaugh, Jay Glenn Firebaugh, Lowell Wayne Firebaugh, and Charles Daniel Firebaugh. He is also predeceased by his parents, George Marshall and Mary Lillian (Coffman) Firebaugh.

John grew up on a dairy farm outside Wooster, Ohio, and graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in Civil Engineering. He remained in Columbus to work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the areas of soil conservation and farming home administration. In Columbus he met Francille at the Ohio Hiking Club, and they married in 1970.

In 1978 John was appointed by USAID to work on a two-year drainage project in a remote region of Afghanistan. Francille was able to join him by taking a leave of absence from her administrative position at Ohio State. After one year there, they had to be evacuated to India when the Russian army moved in. They eventually arrived in Nepal where they stayed for six months before returning to the U.S.

In 1988 John and Francille moved to Ithaca, New York, where Francille accepted a position as Dean of Human Ecology at Cornell University, and John continued his work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They moved back to Columbus in 2008, after they had both fully retired.

John was very recognizable at Cornell as the non-college guy who navigated Ithaca's hilly terrain on his bicycle. Because Francille usually walked to her job at the university, their car rarely left the garage. But they did love to travel internationally, and it was a rare treat to visit their home, where you would be shown items purchased from around the world, and told the stories behind them.

John was a gentle, unassuming man with a sly sense of humor. A good week for John would include solving an engineering problem that had been puzzling him, finding a new way to use some of the plants in his garden, and attending a lecture or two at the university on virtually any topic, from macroeconomic theory to black matter.

John was notoriously frugal with himself and graciously generous with others. Back in the days when cameras required film, John had failed to buy film for one of his birthday celebrations because he wanted to wait until it went on sale the next day. At the same time, he and Francille gave magnanimously to nieces, nephews, and other family members, in their times of need.

John was inviting and easy going. He had a young-at-heart quality. You could get a flavor of this as he would carry on a conversation or tell stories, seated on the kitchen counter with his feet dangling and swinging back and forth.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am Monday, June 24, at the First Congregational Church in Columbus (444 East Broad Street), where John was an active long-time member. The service will also be livestreamed (fcchurch.com). In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society or the First Congregational Church, Columbus.