In Memory

John Ivers

Although John Ivers, Jr., was not a classmate of ours at LCHS, he was a classmate of many in grade school at St. Bede's and attended High School at St. Francis. Many of us knew him, and it seems appropriate to remember him here. --Garrett

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From the Santa Ynez Valley Journal

STORMIN' JOHN IVERS, JR. DIES

By SYVJ Staff


John Francis Ivers Jr., an artist, traveler and truly unique soul, died Nov. 29 in Santa Ynez.
Many people around the valley knew him as “Stormin’ Johnny Handsome, the chosen
one,” a nickname he’d given himself.

The son of John and Pat Ivers, he was born in Washington D.C. on March 2, 1952 and
grew up in La Canada, Calif., attending St. Bedes grade school and St Francis High
School. He had six siblings.

“His career in painting took off early and was a hard worker early on honing his skills,” a
family member said. One of his talents was creating faux looks on the exterior of buildings
that could make them look like they’d come from another place and time.
He was known for his ability to make friends wherever he went. Ivers loved to travel and
visited countries all over the world.

Family friend Connie Cody said that he was a talented singer and guitarist who was
happiest when he was seeing new places and having adventures.“He was totally as free as he could be in the sense of staying detached from (a) regular
work-a-day world we have going on here,” Cody said. “He was one of those characters, the
kind that we see too few of these days.”

  Ivers loved New Guinea and Indonesia, and mined gold in Australia.
  He also was a skier, dancer, harmonica player and wood worker. He loved his German
shepherd, whose name was Stormin’.
  In a statement, his family said, “He entertained us with exotic tales of adventure and
throwing in humor that would ignite much contagious and needed laughter. That was his gift
to us.

“His wanderlust led him on to his greatest adventure. He will be missed greatly and
certainly not easily forgotten. He gave in his unique way to us all. That is love.”
He was a surrogate dad to Michelle Milligan, who he called his “princess.”
“He was so adventurous and kind and smiley and happy all the time. Somebody you
enjoyed to be around,” Milligan said.

Ivers is survived by by sisters Kathy, Mary Pat and Louise and brothers Donald, Robert
and David as well as his nieces and nephews Dawn Marie, Casey, Vanessa, Zachary,
Christopher, Michelle, Kaelyn, Luke, Will, Elena, Claire, Ivar, Daniel and Stephen.

He was preceded in death by his parents, John and Pat and his sister Karen.
Funeral service will be held Dec. 13 at noon at the Loper Funeral Chapel in Ballard. A
memorial service will follow at Lupin Hill Farms in Santa Ynez.

http://www.santaynezvalleyjournal.com/archive/6/50/3426/
 







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