John Anthony Phelan

John Phelan Memories
To know John was to love him. I don´t recall anyone who did not like him. I have known him since around the fourth grade when he moved to Grass Valley and we went to grammar school together. We were on a pre-college path through high school taking many of the same classes. He played football at Nevada Union and was really too short to be a football end, but I saw him play. He had the guile to elude defenders and be where Rich Brooks could launch pass to him. I don´t recall it but he claimed to have knocked me down while boxing in PE class.

We continued on to Sierra together in calculus, physics, and surveying classes. I remember sitting in "our booth" at Ellie´s Snack Shack with our gang, John, Irene, Jim Gray, Bill Weatherall, Judy Rodrick (Gray), and others, rotating in and out as we would go to class. John and Irene encouraged me to come out of my shy shell and were pleased when I finally asked a girl out.

At Cal we were again taking many of the same EE classes. John came into his own here. I recall doing homework together at Cory Hall. I was slogging my way, trial and error, through a problem. John was figuring out the theory. He called me Bobby. I can hear him now saying to me "Now Bobby, you need to look at it this way." A mild admonishment between good friends.

After graduation from Cal, we ended up on opposite sides of the country but stayed connected even if infrequently. I always looked forward to seeing John and Irene at our High School class reunions. At one, I remember he and Irene surprised me from behind with a big bear hug. We would bring each other up to date on kids and careers.

I last saw John and Irene in 2023 when I had dinner with them in Saratoga at the end of a visit to Grass Valley. We shared and laughed at photos from our 2019 reunion that I had on my i-pad. Then I gave both John and Irene two hugs. One was for that visit. The other was for a future visit which I said I possibly might not be able to make. Little did I know that it would be our last.

Memories like these are forever.

Johnny, I´m going to miss ya.
Bob Lobecker