John Ise

August 4, 1923 - October 2, 2018

Born to John and Lillie Ise of Lawrence Kansas. Following in the footsteps of his father who was a College Professor of Economics, he found the love of books and learning. He graduated from KU when he was only 13 years old. He continued with more education and became a Nuclear Physicist, and a College Professor as well. John was well respected as a physicist and worked on the Manhattan Project. He enlisted in the Navy as an officer and was stationed in the south pacific on a mine sweeping ship during WWII. John met his future wife of 53 years, Dorothy who was working as a flight attendant with TWA, on a flight from Albuquerque to San Francisco. They married in Chicago on her birthday in 1957. After a long honeymoon in Europe they began a new life in Santa Barbara. Dorothy accompanied John on most of his business trips abroad until their two children, Jennifer and Christopher were born. John loved the outdoors and spent many days hiking the back country and took trips to national parks. He also loved to ski and took trips to Mammoth often. He loved wine and food, and was a member of the Santa Barbara Food and Wine Society, and was wine director on several occasions. 

Dorothy passed away in 2010, and John kept active by walking his dog Cindy multiple times a day and he also loved his regular Tuesday lunch with his good old friends called the ROMEO's (retired old men eating out). John was a generous, caring man, who was involved in many charities and good causes. He was a firm believer in climate change and had been fighting for it since the early 80's. The natural disasters from December and January took a big toll on John and he spent the last 8 months of his life in a care facility. His family would like to thank the staff at Mariposa as well as all the people from Hospice who helped with John over the final months of his life. He is survived by his two children, Jennifer and Christopher, three grandchildren Zoe, Maile, and Dino. A celebration of John's life will be held on Saturday November 24 at 1:00pm. Please join us at Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapel, 450 Ward Dr., Santa Barbara for service. All are welcome.

Arrangements entrusted to Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapels.