John Ross
April 8, 1940 – December 14, 2023
John Allen Ross was born on April 8, 1940 in Pittsburgh PA to Bruce John Ross and his wife, the former Gertrude Harriet Mook of Kinsman OH. He and his older sister Nancy Jane were raised in Flossmoor IL, just south of Chicago. He graduated from Bloom High School in 1958, and then chose Coe College in Cedar Rapids IO because, unlike other contenders, “their application form was only one page long.” After two years he dropped out of college and joined the Army, 6 months active duty followed by two years in the Reserves, during which time he finished college, graduating in 1963 with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics. He then joined the Air Force, went through Officers’ Training School at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, and was assigned to Sheppard AFB in Wichita Falls TX. There he met and married fellow Lt. Emily Claire Glover of Nashville TN, a union that would last 58 years. He was shortly thereafter sent to Da Nang Air Base, Viet Nam as Aircraft Maintenance Officer. In 1967, in the middle of that one-year tour, his son and only child, Bruce Alan Ross, was born back
in Tennessee. That tour also brought him a Purple Heart and an Air Force Commendation Medal. After returning from Viet Nam he left the Air Force and went to work for the Veteran’s Administration in the Guardianship section as a Field Examiner, caring for disabled and/or incompetent veterans and their dependents. He retired after 30 years with the VA, and in 1999 he and his wife moved from Nashville to Tavares FL, where he enjoyed competitive shuffleboard, swimming, snorkeling and cruising in the Caribbean. In 2009 they moved to the Lake View Terrace Continuing Care Retirement Facility in Altoona FL. He died of kidney failure around 4:00 A.M. on Dec. 14, 2023, survived and mourned by his wife, son, and four adult grandchildren, Jeff, Devin, Garrett and Alyssa Ross.
