John Lord

John Frederick Lord, of Toms River passed away peacefully on Sunday, March 18, 2012 months shy of his 100th birthday. He was born in Marysville, CA and spent his childhood in Camptonville, CA, a small mining town north of Nevada City. He was raised by an aunt and uncle who happened to own a placer gold mine. He and his cousins had a "play" mine for their amusement when they were not milking cows or attending the one room school. He moved to Sacramento for his last two years of high school and subsequently attended UC Berkeley in the School of Mines. He was awarded a BS degree in 1936. John began his mining career with Yuba Consolidated Gold Fields in central CA and in 1939 ventured to Colombia, SA where he learned the intense manual labor of dredging for gold. Returning stateside in 1942 he served in the Navy in the Pacific Theater and also helped in the war rebuilding effort in Korea, 1942 was also the year he married Marie Truesdale of Sacramento. They were separated by the war until 1946 when he was free to return to Colombia with his bride. After 1950 he began a long and satisfying career with ASARCO in Salt Lake City, UT as Manager and Resident Engineer for acquisition and development, He moved with his family to Toms River in 1957. He initiated and supervised the exploration and evaluation of alluvial deposits containing precious metals in Africa, Australia, Central and South America and the Bering Sea while his "Ree" held down the home front. After retiring from ASARCO in 1977, he continued consulting full time for many years for Hovnanian Industries in Manasquan and was still "going to the office" until a month before his death.

He is predeceased by his wife of 63 years, Marie. Surviving are his son, John and his three children Bryan with Heather and Meghan married to George and Courtney with mother Allison. John's daughter Annette and her two children Alexandra and Nikolas, along with Earlyne, beloved cousin, live on the west coast. John welcomed his first great grandchild Finnley last September.

Services will be held at the Presbyterian Church of Toms River, Hooper Ave. on Saturday, March 31, 2012 at 11:00 am Reception to follow at the church. Anderson and Campbell Funeral Home in Toms River was in charge of arrangements.