John Joseph Huetter Jr.

It seemed from an early age John was destined to be a world traveler. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, but by the time he was 7 his father and family had been stationed at Fort Worden in Port Townsend, Washington, Fort Hamilton in New York City, and then the garrisons near Livorno, Italy. In Italy John learned how to swim and sail on the calm Mediterranean waters, and spent summers in Germany with his paternal grandparents. During this time he learned fluent Italian, and would go on to pick up Spanish, Portuguese, and German, mostly just enough to get into and out of trouble. After Italy, his family moved back to the U.S. and settled in Alexandria, Virginia, where John attended George Washington High School. While there he played rugby, lacrosse, football, and rowed crew, and became good friends with Robert Hemphill, Jeff H. Morehouse, and Jim Morrison (later of The Doors fame). John’s family moved his senior year, but he stayed behind and lived with the Hemphills until he graduated in 1961.

John followed his family’s military tradition and was accepted into the Air Force Academy. He joined the 24th Cadet Squadron and became lifelong friends with the squadron including Steve Wallach, Scotty Schafer and Brian Cullen. He was on the Academy’s first ever parachute team; legend had it that the group had to sneak off base to compete, only to return with a prize, before the Academy officially recognized the team. John said when he jumped he felt the most free, and continued to parachute recreationally into his 50’s.

After graduating from the USAF Academy in 1965 and serving in Vietnam, John moved to sunny California in 1966 to attend UCLA for a PhD in Political Science, and was able to complete his Masters before more adventures lured him away. He worked as a systems analyst at System Development Corporation (SDC), a very early computer software company, and worked on systems design for the Israeli Air Force, as well as working for the Rand Corporation. While living in Venice, California, he also met Kathleen Brintnall, a flight attendant for American Airlines at the time. John quickly proceeded to do several daredevil stunts to impress her. For example, he managed to land a friend’s boat in front of her beachview apartment, only to get it marooned when the tide went out.

California also introduced John to the next big love in his life; motocross racing. He test drove and raced motorcycles for many different manufacturers, which enabled him to travel all over North America and Europe. As a motorcycle photojournalist, John contributed to Cycle News, and was the editor for the inaugural issues of Dirt Bike Magazine in 1971. He decided to leave Cycle News in 1973 to cover the European Grand Prix motocross season; his old job was inherited by Tod Rafferty, which coincidentally led to them being long-time friends. John interviewed and wrote exposés on several heavy hitters of the day like Steve McQueen and Roger DeCoster, and wrote a book about his experiences and motorcycle knowledge, aptly titled Motorcycling USA, in 1977.

John eventually decided he needed a day job, and went to work for companies specializing in alternate energy and technology R&D companies. He then founded his own company, ER&A, an alternate energy company that focused on hydropower projects.

Recreationally, John also enjoyed scuba diving with Bill Owen and Mike Kerley, as well as mountain climbing with Bill, abalone hunting, rock climbing, and competing in 10ks all throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. He flew several airships, including a paraglider designed by his brother Mike that he managed to crash into a giant Yucca plant in Mexico. These hobbies also allowed John to travel all over the world, where he got to see some of the most amazing natural landscapes and seascapes, and helped feed his environmentalism.

John and Kathleen married in 1981 and had an adventurous honeymoon in New Orleans and Cancun, Mexico, back when visitors still had to hack their way through the jungle to see the pyramids. They had two daughters, Beth (aka M.E.) in 1982 and Caroline and 1985, in Topanga, California.

The family moved to the Central Coast in 1988 for John’s work. Here, John loved taking his daughters to the beach to look at tidepools, elephant seals and otters, going on hikes, and being involved in the kids’ activities. He coached Beth’s soccer team for a season, and served as PTA president at Virginia Peterson Elementary. John and Kathleen hosted casual-yet-fierce tennis matches at their house near Creston, California, with about half of the Virginia Peterson school staff participating, and hosted many celebrations throughout the years at their large Victorian farmhouse.

John was still able to continue his world travels. He went on safari in Botswana in 1993 with his aunt Rosemary Meyer. John and his children traveled to India, Nepal, Cambodia, and Thailand with the Hemphill family to bring in the new millennium in 2000, and then again to France for the 2001 “actual millennium” celebration.

After John and Kathleen’s divorce in 1995, he moved to the San Francisco Bay area to work as Executive Director of the Calstart Electric Vehicle Incubator at Hanger 20 at the former Alameda Naval Air Base, and served on the Chamber of Commerce for Alameda. During this time he was reintroduced to high school crush Meredith McCullough, and they maintained a long distance relationship for several years.

In the early 2000’s, John retired early and decided to live out a lifelong dream of living on a boat and sailing through warm waters. He bought a catamaran named Quo Vadis (“Where Are You Going?” in Latin), and proceeded to cruise from the Chesapeake to the Caribbean, Venezuela, through the Panama Canal, up the coast of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, before finally arriving in San Diego. He chronicled his adventures in his book, The Years of Living Wet, published in 2008.

After selling his beloved Quo Vadis, he moved back to the Central Coast, and continued to write, and met other local Central Coast writers, including writer and winemaker John Munch. He enjoyed attending local music venues, and became friends with jazz vibraphonist Charlie Shoemake. John also volunteered as a docent for the Friends of the Elephant Seals for California State Parks, which decades earlier he and his daughters had frequently visited.

As a surprise to no one, retirement didn’t slow down John’s travels. He rented a 200-year-old farmhouse just outside of Borgo a Mozzano, Italy, for two months in 2007, where he hosted his children and friends and introduced them to his beloved childhood home. He frequently visited Washington State to visit his grandchildren and got to revisit Fort Worden, which had by now become a state park. John visited the La Pampa region in Argentina, where he enjoyed the red wine and beautiful scenery, as well as a cruise down the rivers and canals in the Rhone region of France, where he also enjoyed the wine and beautiful scenery. One of his last trips was to Australia, where he traveled east to west across the entire continent by train, and got to co-pilot a floatplane over the Great Barrier Reef. By the end of his life, John was able to visit all of the worlds’ continents except Antarctica, which he was more than happy to skip.

John was preceded in death by his parents, his brother Patrick Huetter and his daughter Caroline Huetter. He is survived by his brothers Robert and Michael Huetter, his sister Susan Huetter, his daughter Beth Kelley, three grandchildren (Audrey, Keir, Caitlin), his nephews Jonathan Huetter and Rex Huetter, niece Tahiti Huetter, and grandniece Viola Huetter.

John’s wish was to have a Viking funeral. His family will do their best to honor his wishes and have a burial at sea over Veteran’s Day weekend, followed by a reception. For official dates and schedule, please reach out to his daughter Beth Kelley.

To honor his memory, you are welcome to make a contribution to one of the many organizations that John cared about; the Sierra Club, the St. Joseph Indian School, Central Coast Jazz Institute, and the Friends of the Elephant Seals.