We Lost A Good Friend

[wallytrucker1]

This may be old news by now, but my friend John O lost his struggle with cancer on Monday. My wife tried to call last nite and his son relayed the following, best as I can recall. He had a broncscope preformed and on Mon while at home, John began to hemmorage and 911 was called but John died before help arrived.
Those who have stayed in touch know John had been in great pain very recently and things have not been going well and while I know there is a great deal of pain now with family and friends, I know my friend is no longer suffering. I would like to write more a little later about our friendship, but I will post this now in case some are unaware

 

[charlee]

Thank you...our prayers are with his family and friends.


-cj

 

[TeamCaffee]

John O was one of the best. Always helpful and what a great sense of humor and a great sense of life he had. He is sure going to be missed on this site.

Thanks for letting us know.

 

[Lawrence]

The ExpeditersOnline.com team and family are sadden by this news. We all had hoped and prayed for a recovery, very sad. We lost a great person and a great representative of our expedite trucking industry.

 

[RichM]

I also stayed in touch with John throughout his illness. This past weekend I attempted several times to reach his son and wife with no results and suspected the worst. He was a personal friend and I will send my condolences to his family. I was born and raised in NJ ,lived a good part of my adult life there and bonded with John as Jersey guys do. My wife would say to me I always know when you are on the phone with John as that is when you laugh throughout the conversation.

John was a volunteer at a Childrens Cancer Camp in the Pocono Mountains in PA. When he first found out about his cancer he postphoned the start of his own treatment so that he would not miss his time at the camp. This tells you a lot about the type of man he was.

I last saw John last spring when I was doing the Speedco Super Truck tour and John stopped by to spend the afternoon with me in North Carolina. He bought lunch and we had a pleasant afternoon together.

He will be missed and and one time he said to me,Rich when I go just post up for me this "Stop smoking now".

 

[terryandrene]

John was one of the good people and a friend to any expediter with whom he came in contact. We was an ardent supporter of EO, and particularly helpful at the inaugural Expo at Wilmington, OH. We'll surely miss John and his periodic e-mails and contributions to the forums.

 

[davekc]

A tragic loss of a great guy. He will be missed greatly here on the EO site and in person.
Our prayers are with his wife and family.

 

[jaminjim]

I'm very sorry to hear the news about John, I never met the man but he seemed to be a very well rounded nice guy. My sympathies go out to his family.
This is for you John:
CANCER SUCKS

 

[pjjjjj]

So sorry to hear this
Just "chatted" with him for the first (and now only) time last week, didn't realize he was so ill.

 

[wallytrucker1]

Morning Rich: I have never met any of the folks on here and I would often ask JO what you guys were like and he always spoke very highly of you and I thought you would like to know that.
I met Jo on the phone when he decided he was going to come to work at Landstar. I have never in my life met a person with MORE questions about everything. I thought I had finally answered them all and then he decided to buy his D unit and yours truly was a previous owner. You got it, 10,000,000 new questions. It got to the point where i couldn't answer his calls till I had 30 min to spend with him lol.
I talked with him a few weeks ago and told me he had been complaining to the doc about how terrible he was feeling and the just very matter of factly told him that he "should be dead' with what all he was going through. John said that was the first time he really felt afraid of the cancer and thought that it might take him out in the end.
I then talked th him last thrus/fri and he only said that he was having a very bad day and couldn't tallk. He passed on Mon.
I introduced John to my wife because she was diagnoised stage 4 lung cancer a few mo's before John. THey became good friends or CANCER BUDDYS as I called them.
What I willl mostly remember my friend for will be the way he took my wife under his arm and supported her thru chemo and radiation and all else. He never hinted at his own demise or pains,just concern for, just his concern for her. will continue

 

[LDB]

I didn't get to know John until about 2 years ago. Even in the depths of his illness he was upbeat and positive. Many lives are the better for having intersected with John. Like so many others, I've lost a good friend. At one point when discussing ham radio he told me he was going to get his license too. I'll have to wait a little longer now but we'll QSO again when I eventually join him. John, when you get around to taking a look down here again, thank you for all the great visits and friendship.

 

[wallytrucker1]

John loved this job. He started taking his motorcycle with him and I honestly belive he had a sign saying he would haul freight for motorcycle gas.
Since we were were both retired as cops, it was a contest to see who had the biggest HERO stories. lol
John, Terry and I didn't get to say goodbye but you were a true friend and you certainly left the world a better place because of all you did in life and now death. We will continue to uphold your family in prayer and we wanted others to know the man we knew.
John. on a more personal note I feel pretty certain you are already running things upstairs. This cancer really does suck, but I am not ready to lose my wife to it yet. There is so much at 53 that she still wants to do,it's so unfair. I am promoting you to her guardian angel position. PLease continue to help and support her, I am counting on you. Greg

 

[Coco]

We are speechless and very saddened by this news.

 

[Paul56]

Nicole and I offer our condolences and prayers to his family and close friends.

 

[alborada]

My prayer would be for this ordinary man to rest in peace. Let love melt into a good memory and pain into a nice song........... for Mr. John........

 

[Bruno]

John will be missed dearly. John wanted to learn so much about this business and was always very cheerful about everything. We talked many times on the phone before we met at the 2006 Expedite Expo. My wife and I showed up and their was John helping out with the expo. Our hearts goes out to Johns Family.

 

[Dreamer]

John will be truly missed. Our prayers go out to his family. He called me a few weeks back to check on ME. Go figure. That's the kind of guy he was.

God Bless his family.

Dale

 

[Jack_Berry]

i can't explain why but a few days ago i was suddenly wondering about him. clear out of the blue. not being able to phone or email i prayed for him. i will pray for the family now.

like many of you i never met him just e-mailed and he answerred many questions.

he is in a better place awaiting us.

 

[CharlesD]

I only swapped a couple PMs with him and he seemed a nice enough guy.

 

[Lawrence]

What does 8,416 EO members think of JohnO?

He is in the top 5 of all EO members in positive reputations. Rest in peace. We wish his family peace and comfort.