John Robert O'Clair

John Robert O'Clair, beloved husband, father, grandfather, veteran, educator, and musician,

passed away on July 23, 2025, in La Canada Flintridge, California at the age of 93.

John was born in Springfield Massachusetts on May 6, 1932 to Dorothy and Francis Alphonsus

O'Clair. His early life included trips to Rocky Neck, Connecticut where he had many fond

summer memories. He and his brother Fran loved gathering razor and cherry stone clams in

onion bags along the shoreline. His family home at 37 Greenleaf Avenue in West Springfield

was a gathering place for family and friends; many living with them on and off during the end of

World War II. His dad had a summer home in Northfield, Massachusetts that had a river running

through the basement. It was quite a house and filled with so many family memories and

stories. John entered the Air Force and studied to be a gunner and electrician. He served in

Biloxi Mississippi and was sent to Colorado to be a mechanic of gunnery systems. He was then

stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base,Washington on the outskirts of Spokane, where he first met

his future wife, Zola, at Pattison's roller skating rink on the way to Deer Lake. He often made

runs to Fairbanks, Alaska,Guam, and Korea during the Korean War. While stationed at Guam,

he started a Men's Glee Club that sang at the Tinian leper colony often heralding them in rounds

that they would return. He played in a jazz band at the Officer's Club quonset hut, a hut that still

exists today. His airway strip was the same one that launched the Enola Gay.

After serving in the military for five years, John entered college on the GI Bill studying at Cheney

College and finishing his Bachelor's degree at Gonzaga University, a school that helped define

his future. Under the guidance of the Jesuits, and the musical expertise of Lyle Moore, John

thrived singing in the Men's Glee Club and forming friendships that lasted a lifetime. His Catholic

faith was often guided by the philosophies of his Jesuit teachers. He worked for his future

in-laws at the summer resort on Deer Lake building campsites, shower houses, and running

their general store. After asking Zola to marry him at Saint Aloysius Church on campus they

began their life together. Zola continued with her first year at Whitworth College while John

studied music and math at Gonzaga. They married on December 21,1957 and moved into their

first home on Perry Street shortly thereafter. Their daughter, Janet, was born in 1959 and

Susan in 1961. In 1962, after the death of Zola's dad George, the family moved to NYC where

John studied at Columbia University's Teacher's College earning a Masters Degree in Music

Education while often studying at Julliard School of Music. After graduation, the family moved

to Huntington Long Island for two years and then to Monroe New York in 1966 where they

purchased a home on Midoaks Road. Their daughter Kathleen was born in 1976 and continued

to inspire the second phase of parenting that he lovingly embraced. John's career as a vocal

teacher, high school choral director, musical director spanned 30 years with the Monroe

Woodbury School District. He influenced the lives of countless students and colleagues with his

talent as a choral director, pianist, and educator. His summers were spent at Cranberry Lake

New York where he turned a swampy logging camp into a home on a lake that inspires his

entire family to visit every year. He lived his life passionately with a desire to learn every day of

his life. In his retirement, he studied and painted like the great artists he was inspired by, played

bridge, conducted local choirs, and relearned his favorite jazz musicians' techniques. He loved

playing golf at the Warwick Valley Country Club and being an active parishioner at Sacred Heart

Church where he served on the finance committee and sang as a bass often playing the organ

for the church choir. In his spare time, he built an ultralight airplane with pontoons that he flew

all over New York State. During the last three years of life, he and Zola moved to California to

live with their daughter Susan and husband Dan and their grandchildren.

John is survived by his wife of 67 years, Zola O'Clair, his daughters Janet O'Clair, Susan (Daniel) Moore, and

Kathleen (Joseph)Birmingham; grandchildren Carly (Roger) Lis, John Henry Moore, Elizabeth

Anne and Emily Grace Birmingham. His legacy lives on in the music he made, the students he

inspired, the faith he lived, and the family he so deeply loved.