Estrella WarBirds Museum

Scholarships,
Museum Vehicles &
Registrations

John was born on July 12, 1943 in Los Angeles, California, and spent all of my early years in the Los Angeles area. He graduated in 1961 from Narbonne High School in Harbor City, near San Pedro. He went to Harbor College in San Pedro and have an AA degree in Fire Science.

On Valentine’s Day 1963 John went to work for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, and retired from the Department July 1, 1999. In 1964, he joined the US Naval Reserves, and in July 1966 began a 2-year active duty status, which took him to Hawaii, Phillipines (beautiful Subic Bay/Olongapo!), Japan and Taiwan.

Sue Spiel and John were married on June 25th, 1966 (2 weeks before his WestPac deployment!), and have 2 beautiful children, Erin (1967), and Darren (1971). During his active Naval service and until 1974 they lived in San Pedro,and later moved to Thousand Oaks, California and then to Creston in 1991. His wife Sue passed away following a long battle with cancer.

         Cheryl Christner and John were were recently married on September 15th, 2007 at their home in Creston. Cheryl is a native of Arroyo Grande, and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 1966.

         John has been a member of Estrella Warbirds Museum for about 3 years. As everyone around the museum knows, John's primary interest lies in restoring vehicles, but aviation and flying is a very close second. John was recently spotted driving the Dodge Power Wagon, one of the four museum vehicles in the Atascadero Colony Days Parade. All four vehicles received top honors.