John B. O’Farrell Jr.
Barstow, Ca.
John B. O’Farrell Jr. passed away peacefully on Thursday, November 9, 2017, after a lengthy illness at the California Veterans Home in Barstow, California. He was 78 years old. John was born in New York City on January 16, 1939, to John and Bernadette O’Farrell. He was their second child and first son.
His family later moved to Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey, and in 1951, they relocated west to Oxnard, California. John attended Santa Clara Elementary School and Santa Clara High School graduating in 1957. In high school he played on the baseball team, served as an altar boy, and made many life-long friends.
After high school John attended Ventura College and then earned a bachelor’s degree from Fresno State. He joined the Air Force and was stationed in Texas for flight training and was later assigned to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. It was in Florida that his two children, Teresa and John, were born to his wife, Cheryl, and him.
Most of his later life was spent in Washington State where he returned to school and earned a teaching credential. He was highly regarded as a teacher and loved by his special needs students. Even after retirement he was coaxed back and continued substitute teaching for several more years.
John was an outgoing person who made friends easily. He enjoyed camping, traveling, and building model railroads. He remained especially fond of his high school classmates and looked forward to their reunions. During this past September, he attended his 60th high school class reunion accompanied by his daughter.
John is survived by his daughter Teresa, of Ventura, his son, John, of San Jose, three grandchildren: Meghan, Amber, and Bradshaw, sister, Marietta of Ventura, brothers: Robert of Monterey, California and Paul of Edgewater, Maryland.
Family and friends are invited to Graveside Funeral Services to be held with Military Honors on Friday November 17, 2017 at 11am in Santa Clara Catholic Cemetery, Oxnard.