John Joseph Lord

John Joseph Lord – loving husband of Kathy, devoted father of Shawn and Morgan (Raun), proud grandfather of Taylor and Renny - was born on October 27, 1951 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was the third child of Evelyn and William. Initially his siblings were George (Deborah) and Lillian (Donald), but eventually included William, Debra(Daniel), Harry(Lorraine), Thomas, Brian, Robert(Renee), Patricia(Matthew) and Patrick(Desiree), and Colleen(Ralph) which resulted in John being a dear uncle to many nieces and nephews.

John attended Union Hill High School where he excelled in crosscountry track earning him a full scholarship to Jersey City State College. Losing his scholarship after breaking his neck in a freak accident (leaving him paralyzed below the neck for four months) did not deter John from graduating on June 5, 1976 with a Bachelor of Education degree.

Before utilizing his higher education, John was a jack-of-all-trades including, but not limited to, train brakeman, window salesman, baby photographer, security guard and so on. Transitioning to Florida in the early 1980’s, John continued to add to his resume – transmission salesman, beachwear designer - “Bahama John’s”, beach shop proprietor, bartender, and so on.

Realizing his first love was teaching, John began his 28 year teaching career in Broward County, FL. The vast majority of those years were spent at Coral Springs Middle School teaching sixth grade math. During those years he also coached the Boy’s Track Team – a natural position for John given his award winning background in track and field during his high school and college years. John also had the distinctions of being a designated union steward, a TREK facilitator, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow, as well as, one of 100 Math/Science Fellows in the country.

After being on personal leave for one and a half years due to health issues, John officially retired from teaching on June 11, 2016.

John Joseph Lord was welcomed Home to Eternal Life by the Father at 3:12 p.m. on November 28, 2016. John touched the heart of each and every person he ever met, and he will be missed beyond words.