John was a good friend who is sorely missed. We enjoyed many adventures together- skiing trips, bicycle tours, backpacking, bad golf, and the sometimes poker group. In the last 10 year of his short life, my wife Kathryn and I were fortunate to spend time with John and Susan in Huston, New Orleans, Montana and Wyoming. John was always optimistic, levelheaded, a quick wit, and probably the sharpest mind I ever knew. Here is a photo I snapped in late April 1973, of a backpacking/snowshoeing trip we took in the Beartooths. As I recall we woke up to about 6 inches of new snow on the second day of this adventure. John is shown in the center, Doug Forbes on the right, and John Fitzgerald on the left.
Thanks for sharing your memories of John Lynn, who was a close neighbor and good friend from early grades. I remember our little club, which I think he called the John-Sean-Ron club, for Sean McDonough and Ron Abell, We had regular meetings at John's house. We liked to explore the Big Ditch (BBWA canal) for treasures.
My BFF Catherine (McMasters) Motroni was part of the little group. Her dad and John Lynn's dad were geologists, and Catherine (now known as Kate (German for Katherine) became a geologist at Stanford.
John was always a scientist. I remember when he decided to ferment cranberry juice. We also played "RISK" and that was fun. Around third grade, classmate Doug McShane tried to teach me chess, but my mind wasn't ready for it.
In 7th grade, at Lincoln Jr. High, John Lynn and I were chosen to compete for the school district's math competition. I earned a certificate stamped "Superior."
John's family (including older sister Jenny and two younger siblings) had an enormous Dachsund, named GIGI. Gigi was so fat, she waddled.
In high school and on summer breaks from college, John worked for my dad, a civil engineer, and did coding on an early computer, which used data cards. My late brother John O'Brien was impressed by John Lynn's programming skills. They created software for fence contractors which became the industry standard for awhile.
I knew John had cancer for 11 years. Very sad to lose him so young.
Thank you, Kathy - that was a wonderful summation of growing in our close knit neighborhood. We were so lucky to have the big grass area between our 2 houses. At least a half acre. I remember in the summer being able to be outside 9 pm and we still had enough light. I always remember when we played softball, baseball, or any kind of game on that lawn or even playing Risk at his house across the street. I remember John frequently saying "Homeit". After getting really frustrated with him, I said we don't know what "Homeit" means. It was "Hold it a minute". He always wanted to make sure we all following the same rules.
John was a very good friend to me throughout our high school years at Senior. I attended Rimrork Elementary in Billings for 4th and 5th grade where I met John and we became friends. At Christmas of 5th grade my family made an exodus to Minnesota which lasted 5 years. In the fall of our Sophomore year my family returned to Billings. We lived 2 blocks east of John's house.We lived the opposite direction from Catherine and Kathleen. Together we shared interests in bicycles, cameras and stereo equipment. For a while: When records were $5, he would give me $2 for the opportunity to tape record it while still in it's new, pristine condition before I listened to it. Being the late bloomers we were, neither of us had a drivers license until way late of our senior year, so we biked where we needed to go. We biked alot.... Though we were often able to depend on the mercy of others for rides such as Michael Becker, Craig Erickson, Ann Regan, John Fitzgerald, Rick and Rock Swenson and Dan Speer. Often times on the weekend, we would catch a movie and pizza at Pizza Hut. John was always in charge of splitting the bill so everyone paid their fare-share....right down to the slice and penny.
John and I played thousands of hands of Spades. Ocassionally we played chess...my only bragging rights there was that I was able to beat John Lynn at chess.....once, and once only. Pretty sure we never played again.
As you all remember I'm sure: John had a very honed ability for sarcasm and he was all about sharing that with everyone, though especially his two sisters Jenny and Kathy. It was pure art to witness. I like to think that I was able to pick up a bit of that myself and when I see the T shirt that says "Sarcasm is my hug" I think of John.
Though scholastically we operated in much different orbits. I often think that I was mostly in his world at all was because I brought the comedy relief.... Though I know that is probably not true, I truly appreciated his friendship then and still think of him often.
Although I didn't meet John until I moved to Billings in Eighth grade, our class schedules overlapped considerably from Lincoln through our graduations from Senior. He was a great guy to be around and it was always fun to discuss/debate nearly any subject with him, either in or out of school.
The first of the two most memorable moments I recall about John happened in Ninth grade in our 1st period Biology class with Mr. Brautigan when the class was dissecting frogs. Several of our classmates were a little sqeamish at pithing and then cutting open the live frogs after having played with them the previous day. John was one of those in the class who had no problem with the dissections and was happy to help about 5 or 6 classmates with these first two steps. Everyone else's frogs he did perfectly. He then came back to his frog and after doing the pithing proceeded to make his first cut a little too deep and there was frog blood squirting everywhere. To say that he was a little annoyed was an understatement to say the least. The rest of the class was highly amused.
Steve's comment about playing chess triggered another school memory about John. We both were in Mrs. Smith's English class in 10th grade; it met right after our lunch period. Most days he and I would inhale lunch and then hustle to English. Mrs. Smith would leave the classroom unlocked and once we got there I would pull out my small magnetic chess board and we would see how many games we could squeeze in before class started. Mrs. Smith was normally even kind enough to let us finish the game we were playing even after she started teaching as long as we still paid attention to her and it didn't take more than a couple of minutes. We each won about 50% of the games, so both of us really enjoyed the little mid-day break.
I met John for the first time tracking class together during my years at BSHS. Immediately I was impressed at how smart John was - every class and subject seemed to come easily to John. I was impressed with all of my classmates- but I knew John was special. In one class we were paired together on a project. We met at John's house. After our project planning, I asked John if he knew anything about building a stereo electronic item I wanted to build. "Sure he said." I had no diagram but told him about it. He instructed me to buy a number of small micro electronics of which I understood little. Then with his help we built my project. It is clear to me why John layer excelled at Rice University in engineering.
I saw John again at our 10 year anniversary where he told me of his diagnosis and informed me this would be his last reunion. I was saddened and hoped it was not so but now we all miss John Lynn but have fond memories of him.
Michael Becker
John was a good friend who is sorely missed. We enjoyed many adventures together- skiing trips, bicycle tours, backpacking, bad golf, and the sometimes poker group. In the last 10 year of his short life, my wife Kathryn and I were fortunate to spend time with John and Susan in Huston, New Orleans, Montana and Wyoming. John was always optimistic, levelheaded, a quick wit, and probably the sharpest mind I ever knew. Here is a photo I snapped in late April 1973, of a backpacking/snowshoeing trip we took in the Beartooths. As I recall we woke up to about 6 inches of new snow on the second day of this adventure. John is shown in the center, Doug Forbes on the right, and John Fitzgerald on the left.
Memory eternal, John!
Kathleen O'Brien
Thanks for sharing your memories of John Lynn, who was a close neighbor and good friend from early grades. I remember our little club, which I think he called the John-Sean-Ron club, for Sean McDonough and Ron Abell, We had regular meetings at John's house. We liked to explore the Big Ditch (BBWA canal) for treasures.
My BFF Catherine (McMasters) Motroni was part of the little group. Her dad and John Lynn's dad were geologists, and Catherine (now known as Kate (German for Katherine) became a geologist at Stanford.
John was always a scientist. I remember when he decided to ferment cranberry juice. We also played "RISK" and that was fun. Around third grade, classmate Doug McShane tried to teach me chess, but my mind wasn't ready for it.
In 7th grade, at Lincoln Jr. High, John Lynn and I were chosen to compete for the school district's math competition. I earned a certificate stamped "Superior."
John's family (including older sister Jenny and two younger siblings) had an enormous Dachsund, named GIGI. Gigi was so fat, she waddled.
In high school and on summer breaks from college, John worked for my dad, a civil engineer, and did coding on an early computer, which used data cards. My late brother John O'Brien was impressed by John Lynn's programming skills. They created software for fence contractors which became the industry standard for awhile.
I knew John had cancer for 11 years. Very sad to lose him so young.
Catherine McMasters (Motroni)
Thank you, Kathy - that was a wonderful summation of growing in our close knit neighborhood. We were so lucky to have the big grass area between our 2 houses. At least a half acre. I remember in the summer being able to be outside 9 pm and we still had enough light. I always remember when we played softball, baseball, or any kind of game on that lawn or even playing Risk at his house across the street. I remember John frequently saying "Homeit". After getting really frustrated with him, I said we don't know what "Homeit" means. It was "Hold it a minute". He always wanted to make sure we all following the same rules.
Steven Raska
John was a very good friend to me throughout our high school years at Senior. I attended Rimrork Elementary in Billings for 4th and 5th grade where I met John and we became friends. At Christmas of 5th grade my family made an exodus to Minnesota which lasted 5 years. In the fall of our Sophomore year my family returned to Billings. We lived 2 blocks east of John's house.We lived the opposite direction from Catherine and Kathleen. Together we shared interests in bicycles, cameras and stereo equipment. For a while: When records were $5, he would give me $2 for the opportunity to tape record it while still in it's new, pristine condition before I listened to it. Being the late bloomers we were, neither of us had a drivers license until way late of our senior year, so we biked where we needed to go. We biked alot.... Though we were often able to depend on the mercy of others for rides such as Michael Becker, Craig Erickson, Ann Regan, John Fitzgerald, Rick and Rock Swenson and Dan Speer. Often times on the weekend, we would catch a movie and pizza at Pizza Hut. John was always in charge of splitting the bill so everyone paid their fare-share....right down to the slice and penny.
John and I played thousands of hands of Spades. Ocassionally we played chess...my only bragging rights there was that I was able to beat John Lynn at chess.....once, and once only. Pretty sure we never played again.
As you all remember I'm sure: John had a very honed ability for sarcasm and he was all about sharing that with everyone, though especially his two sisters Jenny and Kathy. It was pure art to witness. I like to think that I was able to pick up a bit of that myself and when I see the T shirt that says "Sarcasm is my hug" I think of John.
Though scholastically we operated in much different orbits. I often think that I was mostly in his world at all was because I brought the comedy relief.... Though I know that is probably not true, I truly appreciated his friendship then and still think of him often.
Bryan (Lee) Beckman
John Lynn was a great guy! He kind of reminded me of Eddie Haskell from the TV series Leave it to Beaver
Richard Spechalske
Although I didn't meet John until I moved to Billings in Eighth grade, our class schedules overlapped considerably from Lincoln through our graduations from Senior. He was a great guy to be around and it was always fun to discuss/debate nearly any subject with him, either in or out of school.
The first of the two most memorable moments I recall about John happened in Ninth grade in our 1st period Biology class with Mr. Brautigan when the class was dissecting frogs. Several of our classmates were a little sqeamish at pithing and then cutting open the live frogs after having played with them the previous day. John was one of those in the class who had no problem with the dissections and was happy to help about 5 or 6 classmates with these first two steps. Everyone else's frogs he did perfectly. He then came back to his frog and after doing the pithing proceeded to make his first cut a little too deep and there was frog blood squirting everywhere. To say that he was a little annoyed was an understatement to say the least. The rest of the class was highly amused.
Steve's comment about playing chess triggered another school memory about John. We both were in Mrs. Smith's English class in 10th grade; it met right after our lunch period. Most days he and I would inhale lunch and then hustle to English. Mrs. Smith would leave the classroom unlocked and once we got there I would pull out my small magnetic chess board and we would see how many games we could squeeze in before class started. Mrs. Smith was normally even kind enough to let us finish the game we were playing even after she started teaching as long as we still paid attention to her and it didn't take more than a couple of minutes. We each won about 50% of the games, so both of us really enjoyed the little mid-day break.
Edward Grove
I met John for the first time tracking class together during my years at BSHS. Immediately I was impressed at how smart John was - every class and subject seemed to come easily to John. I was impressed with all of my classmates- but I knew John was special. In one class we were paired together on a project. We met at John's house. After our project planning, I asked John if he knew anything about building a stereo electronic item I wanted to build. "Sure he said." I had no diagram but told him about it. He instructed me to buy a number of small micro electronics of which I understood little. Then with his help we built my project. It is clear to me why John layer excelled at Rice University in engineering.
I saw John again at our 10 year anniversary where he told me of his diagnosis and informed me this would be his last reunion. I was saddened and hoped it was not so but now we all miss John Lynn but have fond memories of him.