Memories
by Jim Meeder
The John I knew…
I took this photo of John posing with a book in our room at the Lodge in San Francisco in 1964. He was passionate about books and got me reading Steinbeck, Hemingway, Hesse, and others.
I arrived in Paris in January 1969 and called John to ask him if I could stay with him for a couple days. I stayed at his place for nine months. John the businessman enters his apartment and seats himself at his Louis XIV desk.
John’s apartment on rue Joseph Bara in 1969 was an episode in our lives, the quiet times and the noisy times. John sits pensively in his room. John with a book and some tea in a cup I gave him. Tea was always at-the-ready in the apartment. Party time with John, Smokey Dan and his girlfriend, Marc, and me two days before we had to evacuate the apartment. Too many parties and other transgressions, most of which were not John’s fault, so the lease was not being renewed.
John was a good skier. In 1969 we had some good times in Megève, and one weekend we went to Chamrousse, where just one year earlier Killy had won his Olympic downhill gold medal. John and I identified that course and came down it as fast as we could, albeit with other skiers on it. Killy’s winning time is still intact.
In 1971 Terry, Jacques, Jim, and John had a grand week in Courchevel.
In 1980 we had a great week in Val d’Isère — Nina and John Gladish with their baby, John, Terry, Jacques, Jim, and Jan in Le Portillo Residence. Later, John, Jacques, Jim, and Jan in a Val d’Isère cafe.
John, Campbell, and I rode horses on the beach in Tijuana, Mexico, on Easter Sunday 1965. John was the accomplished rider amongst us. John later emerged from an odiferous outhouse on the beach.
John in Chamonix with friends and Dilemma a delightful pet given to us by him Dilly brought us much love.
I had always coveted this banner that was hung from the railing of the nearby Jack Tarr Hotel in San Francisco whenever the Phillies stayed at that hotel when they played the Giants. In 1964 in the middle of the night John and I got knives from the Lodge kitchen, went to this hotel, and cut the banner down as fast as we could because John felt he would surely be deported if caught. I have had this banner and used it ever since. If the authorities come after me I will now blame the whole thing on John.
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Horace-Bénédict de Saussure monument at Chamonix. Jacques Balmat is pointing at Mont Blanc indicating to this sponsor that heknows the way to make the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786.
John strikes the same pose like Jacques Balmat pointing up to Mont Blanc. Balmat made the first ever ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786 along this route. John just went part way up.
John hikes the Vosges Mountains in the Alsace up to a ferme-auberge for lunch. We also drove up to the factory in these hills which John used to visit regularly for his company. July 2008.
John and Jacques, Chamonix
John rappeling down the cliff, Chamonix
In the gardens of the Pierre Giannada Foundation in Switzerland; A favorite place to visit when staying in Chamonix.
In Chamonix with Jacques Guyard and Jim Meeder
John with Jacques in Fontainebleau; Another place they both loved.
The famed Issenheim Altarpiece at the Unterlinden Museum in Colmar, France. Despite all the time that John and I had individually spent in the Alsace, neither of us ever got to see this until this day, Aug 3, 2008. John was a knowledgeable art companion on our museum visits.
Thank you for your memories of John. I did get to meet Jacques when he came to the States to climb.