FROM THE YEARBOOK - Jon was in the Band and the Ski Club all four years. He was also in the Thespians, and acted in a number of plays. He also attended Boy’s State. He “willed his ability to argue with Mr. Pannuto to the Freshman English class”. Many of us probably recall that Mr. Pannuto was one of our more memorable teachers. Jon had actually transferred to BCHS from Ennis in his Freshman year.
AFTER HIGH SCHOOL - Jon along with several others of us went into the USAF right out of high school (remember this - might be more info in a later newsletter). Jon became an airborne radio operator which I really thought was a great job. Spent his Air Force time in California (Travis AFB) Hawaii, and the Philippines ( how tough was that?). Even better he got to fly on C124’s, C97’s and best of all on a VIP C-47 - which is one of the coolest old airplanes ever (DC3 for some of you). (To digress, my first ever airplane ride was in an old Air Force C-47 going to a Civil Air Patrol Camp at McCord AFB in Washington State.)
Jon and I even kept in touch for a while during and after the Air Force. The last time we corresponded, I think he was working for Sears in Logan. Like many of us, he drifted among jobs is his early life. Went from Sears to Service Manager for a car dealership.
Anyway from the car dealership Jon became a police officer in Logan. As a policeman, he got into narcotics and white collar crime. He solved a big problem (white collar crime) for an insurance company, and later the company decided to start a Criminal Investigation Division in Texas. Jon was hired to run the division. The job was all the fun stuff about crime fighting including investigations, and travel (on an expense account).
FAMILY STUFF - Jon has been married to his wife Peggy for over 25 yerars, who he met after he moved to Texas. He is the father and stepfather of 5 children, and has 12 grandchildren. Bret works for Wonder Bread in Utah. Angela works out of the Utah Governor’s office in Salt Lake City. She heads up a drug outreach program. (Jon says she is the “smart one” in the family.) Mary Katherine lives in Houston. James lives in Little Chute, WI and works for a video production company. Andrew lives in Plano, TX and works for EDS, an IT company.
HOBBIES - In anticipation of his retirement, (spring of 2001) Jon started his JPT Custom Golf Clubs business. Jon’s brother was making golf clubs, and Jon liked the idea, so went to school, and started his business.
Another sort of interesting thing that he does is that he creates church music on his computer. (I already know how to steal music off the computer, but didn’t know that you could create it. I guess it makes sense.)
HIGH SCHOOL MEMORIES - I had sort of forgotten some of this, but Jon and I were in the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) together. Ed Swetish was our Dillon Commander. (I still exchange Christmas notes with Ed.) Anyway, Jon was selected to represent the State of Montana as the CAP cadet in Washington DC. He also was a Boy’s State representative. (Is that still held at Western.?)
Remember George Sato? Jon and George were Model Airplane enthusiasts including Radio Controlled airplanes. (Ahead of their time I would say.)