John D. Gorman

(1940 – 2013)

John Dennis Gorman was born on the 18th of May 1940 in Long Beach, California. His parents were Marie Lucienne Rousseau and Donald John Gorman.

His father was enlisted in the US Navy at the time he was born and soon after, he was stationed in Hawaii. During their stay in Hawaii the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor marking the start of WWII for the United States. During that time the family was moved and stayed with family in Lowell, Massachusetts, while his dad fought in the war.

He has two older sisters, Bette and Arlene and one younger sister, Marie.

After the war they moved around the United States from Washington DC, multiple locations in California and Guam.

He attended high school for two years in Guam and then moved to San Diego, California where he graduated from Grossmont High School.

Shortly after graduation he joined the US Navy. His first station was boot camp in San Diego and then he was station on the U.S.S. Handcock where he became a gunners mate. He made two West Pacific tours before being transferred to the Naval Ordnance Facility in Sadabo, Japan. After Japan it was the end of enlistment with the Navy but he was unable to find stable work and reenlisted for six more years.

His second enlistment took him from Rhode Island, to Great Lakes, to Japan, to Hawaii, and then Seal Beach California. He was there for about six months until he met his first wife Maria Herrera.

He married Maria Herrera in 1969 and stayed with her until her death in 1994. Maria had two children prior to meeting John, Hilda and Edward, which he raised as his own. Maria and John had two more children during their marriage, Dianna Joyce, born in 1969 and Christine Marie, born in 1971. In 1987 he became a grandfather and has had multiple grandchildren since.

After retirement from the Navy he worked at Fleet Technical Supply Support Center Pacific and finally retired from Southwest Regional Maintenance Center in the early 2000’s.

In the mid 1990’s he met Carolyn Marino and married her in 1996. Because of the marriage his family grew too with his stepchildren, Greg, Victor, Marion, Diane, Carol, and John plus many step grandchildren. They lived in San Diego, California until his death in April of 2013. They both enjoyed going out dancing and spending time at the VFW and American Legion.

Some of John’s hobbies throughout his life included gardening, cooking and coin collecting but his favorite hobby was genealogy and creating family trees. He was proud of his Irish lineage and able to track his heritage back multiple generations.

In 2010 John was diagnosed with Lymphoma Leukemia cancer. He was treated and it went into temporary remission until it came back in late 2012. He received treatment, but was unable to survive due to an infection and died on April 13, 2013 at the age of 72.