John P. Lodarski

Born and raised a catholic in Connecticut John was one of 10 children. He grew up from the tender age of 3 in an orphanage until the age of 17. John spoke of his orphanage days lovingly when his sisters would slide him under their dresses and sneak him into the girls side of the orphanage so he could get some extra snacks. The nuns would also let the kids earn an extra bowl of corn flakes if they would scrub the floors. John could never let us forget the stories when the brothers would sneak out after dark to steal potato's and fruit from neighboring farms, he was always hungry. As the siblings got older they had a favorite deli in town and would pool their money together to buy a giant submarine sandwich packed with meat for .25 cents.

At 17 John joined the Navy for the duration of the war and just couldn't have been more excited to have unlimited food. After serving in the Navy John moved to Fort Bragg and began a career in logging where he spent 4 years and was able to buy his first piece of property, 10 acres. Fort Bragg remained one of his favorite places. Upon leaving Fort Bragg he then joined the Merchant Marines in Long Beach where he was stationed on the ships carrying fuel during the Korean War.

This is when John decided he wanted a career in Fire Fighting. He joined the US Forest Service stationed at City Creek. While working there he began dance lessons with the Arthur Murray dance studio and soon met his future wife Donna. It didn't take long before they married in Las Vegas on January 18, 1953 and began their new life in a tiny trailer the forest service provided. A short time later their first son John Michael was born and they lovingly renewed their wedding vows in the church. John then headed off to CDF in Cherry Valley and managed a volunteer crew, his rigid work schedule proved to be tough on family life with the arrival of their second son David. John soon found out Colton Fire Department was hiring and opening up a second station. He applied and started his 27 year career with Colton Fire in 1957. A few short years later daughter Cindy joined the brothers and now their family was complete. Settling into their home on Citrus, John became busy with becoming a member of Immaculate Conception Church and raising the children catholic. He was a very involved dad leading the cub scout and boy scout troops for his sons. Not able to sit idle he was one of the founding members to construct the Knights of Columbus hall and remained an active member for several years. John also enjoyed doing construction jobs for many years while on the fire department.

Not yet busy enough he went back to the schooling he never finished and achieved his GED and AA degree from Valley College. It wasn't long before he and Donna decided they wanted to learn more dance moves and took up square dance lessons. John's first grand-baby Amy joined the family in 1976. As retirement drew nearer John started running only short distances and who could of predicted where that would go. Matthew his second grand-baby was born in May of 1984. John retired an engineer with Colton Fire Department in 1985.

As he had planned he joined the Loma Linda Lopers running club and took off. Also in 1985 Hunter joined the family as grandson #2. John's running career took on a life of its own. He became an Ultra-Marathon runner clocking hundreds of miles with wonderful friendships building along the paths. His closest running partner was daughter Cindy and they shared many miles as he guided her to marathon finishes. Cindy preceded her dad in death with her untimely passing in 1988. John remained an avid runner and continued to run in Cindy's memory. As his courageous life continued so did family members, first came Kaitlin and followed by Jackson his 2 beautiful great-grandchildren. John took great pleasure in mentoring new runners and generously helped friends to the finish line on their runs.

As John approached the young age of 75 he set his goal to run 75 miles, well wouldn't you know it, he completed 73 miles before blisters brought him to the finish.

What an amazing journey and life John enjoyed and shared with family and friends. As a father he set the standard by which we have all learned from. During Johns last day of life on this earth, John ran his last marathon towards our heavenly father and into the waiting arms of his beautiful daughter Cindy. Forever loved and never forgotten...

Services will be at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Tuesday April 20, 2010 @ 10:00 AM with graveside to follow at Montecito Memorial Park.

Arrangements under the direction of Montecito Mortuary, Colton, CA.