John William Graham Jr.

John lived an interesting but simple life. After his military service in the Army, he completed a B.S. in Physics with honors at the University of Minnesota in 1966 with the assistance of a full scholarship from the Sloan Foundation. He entered the computer world when vacuum tube mainframe computers with the same memory as an Intel 286 filled an entire suite of air conditioned rooms with tape drives, flashing lights, and punch card data entry. His first love of programming languages was machine language – his forte and delight was debugging.

At the University of Minnesota, he was involved in physics research on the upper atmosphere which entailed several trips to NASA (Cape Canaveral), Halifax, Nova Scotia and Hudson Bay. He never lost the love for science and space exploration, monitoring every NASA launch and teleconference. He was a brilliant programmer, and always enjoyed the new challenges of the changing technology. He likened debugging a program to be like a giant jigsaw puzzle, one of his hobbies, and always enjoyed the challenge of new projects.

In 1968, he moved his family from Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, to work at Boeing as a computer programmer. Just before the historic 1969 layoffs at Boeing, he moved his family to Portland, Oregon where he became a true Oregonian. His love of sightseeing and motorcycles led to many road trips around the Pacific Northwest and a complete tour of the United States on the back of his trusty Suzuki.

John was a devoted Midwestern son, and never forgot his conservative roots instilled from his childhood. His witty and pragmatic sense of humor always permeated a discussion whether he was talking about the weather, politics, or latest science fiction literature. He appreciated the smallest of gestures and truly delighted in visits with his mother, daughter, son, and the neighborhood Jehovah Witness ladies. He immersed himself in vintage recordings of classical music and was a huge fan of the Grateful Dead.

John is survived by his daughter Thea Graham of Gaithersburg, Maryland, son David Graham of Monroe, Washington; brother Timothy Graham (Tehry) of Marana, Arizona, brother Thomas Graham of St. Paul, Minnesota, and former wife Donna Graham of Monroe, Washington.

A Memorial Service will be held on Thursday, September 9, 2010 at 1:00pm at Lincoln Memorial Park Funeral Home.

Arrangements under the direction of Lincoln Memorial Funeral Home, Portland, OR.