John Francis Graham

March 14, 1947 – November 1, 2011

John was born in Alameda but grew up in Concord, Ca. He received his education at Mt. Diablo High School and Sonoma State University where he received a B.A. Degree in Psychology. He resided for the past 25 years in Lakeport, Ca.

He was a member of Clear Lake Bass Masters for a number of years and was active in the Lake County Land Trust. John lived for fishing – his passion -- and won many tournaments and trophies over the years. He was a master fisherman and enjoyed competition.

John also loved movies, reading (you could always catch him reading his daily paper with breakfast at McDonalds), crossword puzzles and playing board games. He always beat us at Scrabble with his superb vocabulary and cleverly built words for Big Points. He was a good sport, too, and had a sense of humor. John loved his family and we loved him. He could be curmudgeonly (usually behind a strongly held opinion) at times but we forgave and respected him for that. John was an all around good guy – generous and caring.

John had many interests in his life. He was very alert and aware of everything around him, especially nature. He could always name a tree or bird, plants, and many other things. He liked to go camping, loved bird watching, had a green thumb and enjoyed planting flowers and gardening.

If you really knew John, you also knew that he was a gentle giant, very big-hearted, kind and loving. He was always there for his family through their ups and downs. He was a private person and had a lot of class.

John volunteered his time with a Lake County event for underprivileged kids, and was active politically and environmentally in Sonoma and Lake Counties. Parts of his legacy are the contributions he made in forest preservation (Black Forest) and fish and wildlife habitat preservation (Rodman’s Slough). The Lake County Land Trust is one of his beneficiaries. John had many, many friends who loved him and will miss having him around.

John is survived by behind brothers Paul Graham, Thomas Graham, sister Anne Graham and two sisters-in-law Diane and Mary and four nieces and nephews, Christine, Patrick, Alison and Richard. Our entire family will miss him always. We are grateful he was our big brother. He and our Mom (who passed recently) were exceptionally great friends.

A memorial service and potluck will be held on December 4 at the Lakeport Senior Center, 527 Konocti Ave. in Lakeport from 1pm-4pm. Memorial contributions can be sent to the Lake County Land Trust P.O. Box 711 Lower Lake, CA. 95457 Or the American Heart Association @ www.heart.org