John Winston Cordell

1930 - 2022

John Winston Cordell
Dec 5, 1930 - March 5, 2022
Palo Alto, CA, San Leandro, CA and Penn Valley, CA
John passed away peacefully on March 5, 2022 at the age of 91. Born in St. Louis, Missouri to Helen Reitz Medeiros he was later adopted by her second husband Fred Cordell. John grew up in St. Louis, MO and Bartlesville, OK. He served in the Korean war as an Air Force flight engineer with the 3909th Operations Squadron and was honorably discharged prior to his marriage to Amrette Ott in March of 1957. They raised three daughters in Palo Alto, California during their 23 years of marriage. While John worked his entire career as an engineer at Litton Industries, his passion was tinkering with and racing cars. He raced sports cars, midgets, drag cars, drag boats and motorcycles. He was president and member of the Bay Cities Racing Association for many years and was inducted into the their Hall of Fame. He was asked to race and did, in the Disney movie, Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and he was featured in the Adrenaline Junkie episode of American Pickers in 2018. He was also a collector of racing memorabilia and period cars. In his later years, he remained involved in the racing world and was always a master machinist and engine builder. There wasn't much he couldn't build or fix. John was later married to Laurie Etievant and subsequently June Cowan Brown. He is survived by his final partner, Yvonne Mikita, his daughters Dawn (Ray), Catherine & Elizabeth, his grandchildren Courtney (Andrew) and Nicholas and his great-grandson, Parker.
John will be interred at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery in a private ceremony and a celebration of his life will be at a later date in Penn Valley, where John lived during his retirement. May John rest in peace…
Simple Traditions
916-488-2894



View the online memorial for John Winston Cordell