Johnny Ray Anderson

1930 – 2018

Johnny Anderson was a man of few words, but he spoke volumes by the way he lived his life. Leaving rural Arkansas as a teenager during the Great Depression, he learned to be independent and make his own way early on. Beginning a life-long passion for service to others and a yearning to travel, he enlisted in the then-young US Air Force and served for twenty years, including three separate one-year remote assignments to Saudi Arabia, Iceland, and Vietnam, and two assignments to Germany with his family. After retiring from his beloved Air Force, he completed a short career with the Tennessee Valley Authority inspecting nuclear power plants across the South.

He never preached about the importance of serving others, but he was proud of his quiet outreach as a Mason and a Shriner, especially for logging over 250,000 miles driving his ‘kids’ from Eastern Tennessee to the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Ohio several times weekly for many years.

John loved cars and driving, and the freedom that passion gave him. His traded a cow and an old shotgun for his first old pick up truck, and declared that the other fellow got a pretty good bargain because his cow had a calf as well! He went on to own a 1954 Ford Crown Victoria, a 1967 Volkswagen Bug, a 1969 Volkswagen Bus, a 1967 Ford Mustang, a 1978 Mercedes 450 SCL, a BMW motorcycle, his trusty Dodge pickup truck, and his pride-and-joy, a 1955 red Ford Convertible Thunderbird, along with a stable of less memorable iron steeds. Car Club outings and road trips across the country were among his favorite things.

Never a slave to fashion mavens, John was often found in blue jean shorts and cowboy boots, paired with his Rolex from Mexico. After moving to Pompano Beach, his friends said he began to dress “like a young man” once his daughter Christine started taking him out to lunch several times each week. Which suited him fine, because, though he loved his independent living facility (almost as much as his former home in Tennessee), and flirting with the young girls working there, he never really loved being around “so many old people” and never considered himself as old.

John picked up golf late in life, and hated giving it up after a mild stroke six years ago. He had terrible form, but always a good time with friends on the hilly courses of Tennessee.

John considered most rules to be merely guidelines, as attested by his many speeding citations, and his constant efforts to sneak an e-cigarette during meals in the “chow hall” in Pompano Beach, much to the chagrin of the managers and other residents.

After almost 88 years serving others on this earth, John passed away peacefully with his baby daughter and oldest son at his bedside, leaving behind daughter Christine, sons Andy and Randy, his brother Sam and sister Modean, and his real “joy in life” grand daughters Tiffany and Brittany. He also leaves behind a legacy that will always bring a smile when we think of him.