John Otis Nolan

John Otis Nolan was born on April 13, 1969 to Maria Aricelda Garcia and Otis Patrick Nolan. He was born in Ft. Riley, Kansas while his dad was stationed there in the Army.  John grew up in Amarillo, Tx and attended Alamo High School but graduated from Caprock High School in 1987.  In September of 1991, John met Carol Moses when they were working at Bennigans together. 

In 1992, John was chosen to be an extra on the movie “Leap of Faith”.  The is when the film bug bit him.  After his days as an extra ended, he found another job to do on the set; then that one ended and he would ask around until he found another job to do.  The movie went to Dallas to finish filming and John was able to convince them that he would work as a local in Dallas and they hired him there.  After “Leap of Faith”, he worked in commercials, tv, and film. 

In the beginning it was tough and he’d have to have at least another job if not 2 but everyone knew if a film job came along, he would take it. He loved working on sets.  He worked on little low budget projects to help a friend for next to no money just to be on a set and to help out a friend.  It didn’t matter the size of the project they were all important to him and he treated each with the same amount of professionalism.  He was not one to be boastful and talk about what he was working on and especially WHO he was working with. 

When Alexandra was born, John was working on a commercial in Dallas.  Carol wasn’t due until the 20th but on the 18th was taken to the hospital to be induced.  After he was called, John rushed around the set doing everything he could to catch everybody up on what he was doing before he left for the hospital. 

In 2000, they moved from Dallas to Amarillo and then to Los Angeles.  He had to “reinvent” himself in LA so he could get hired as an Assistant Director.  He was a GREAT production assistant so everyone wanted to keep hiring him as a PA but he was ready to move up. 

John’s little family of 3 were in LA for 3 years and then decided if they were going to grow their family, they needed to get to it.  John’s family was infamous for only having girls.  He had been challenged!! He was going to break the cycle and have some boys to carry on the Nolan name.  In 2004, Nicholas Patrick Nolan was born.  Nick’s name was very intentional John had thought about this for years because of a movie.  In the movie, A Sure Thing, John Cusack’s character says “Nick's a real name. Nick's your buddy. Nick's the kind of guy you can trust, the kind of guy you can drink a beer with, the kind of guy who doesn't mind if you puke in his car, Nick!”  So then, there was Nick!  A couple more years passed and the family was complete with Jacob Roy Nolan. 

John loved seeing his kids grow up.  He watched Alex cheer for years and was so very proud of her when she graduated from Texas A & M.  Alex is his baby girl but he made sure she knew how to fix things, if something would break at the house, he would call Alex and walk her through how to fix it.  One of his favorite things to do was watch his boys play ball.  He would take his camera and take pictures lots and lots of pictures.  During the quarantine, he enjoyed helping Nick fix up his 1987 Ford Bronco.  The last thing he was working on before he got sick was making fishing pole holders for it out of gun racks.  He was bound and determined to get those put in Nick’s truck so that he could support Nick’s new found hobby of fishing.  John and Jacob always had their love of video games to connect.  John loved video games growing up. He even owned an arcade when he was younger.  He loved to support Jacob’s love of online games.  He would tell the family that Jacob was our IT guy if we needed anything done in the house technical, Jacob was the guy. We called John the “Jacob whisperer”.  During Carol’s pregnancy, Jacob was turned upside down and backwards.  The doctor told John the birth would be hard if he didn’t move.  She told him to get a flashlight and put it on Carol’s belly and the baby would follow the light and turn in the right direction.  John spent the night before Jacob was induced tirelessly putting a flashlight on Carol’s belly.  Sure enough the next morning, Jacob was turned in the correct position.  The doctor was in shock she said she didn’t know if that actually ever worked.  John was always concerned about Carol.  Not just her health but everything.  He would fill up her car with gas before the week started.  No matter what John was doing or who he was doing it for did he did it 100%.  He worked at 100% and he loved at 100%. 

          When John left his earthly body, he was an Assistant Director in the Director’s Guild of America.  He is preceded in death by his father Otis Patrick Nolan.  John leaves behind his wife of 25 years, Carol Nolan, a daughter, Megan Guyer of Grapevine, Tx, daughter, Alexandra “Alex” Nolan, and sons Nicholas “Nick” Nolan, and Jacob Nolan all of Georgetown, Tx.  He also leaves his brother, Jason, and his mom, Maria.  John has too many friends, colleagues, and other family to even attempt to mention but they all have one thing in common, they are huge fans of John Nolan.

          A Visitation with the family will be held on Sunday, August 30, 2020 from 4-6 PM at The Gabriels Funeral Chapel in Georgetown.