| Notes |
- He was a mine supervisor at the age of 19 in Francisco, Indiana. Later moved to Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Attended Allegheny College in Meadville, PA. Graduated in 1922 with B.S. Obtained his M.S. in 1923. School record lists him as a merchant in Ithaca, MI in 1928; a food broker in Ithaca, MI in 1931; then in real estate in Florida in 1967.
According to his daughter, Margaret Bird, he suffered a nervous breakdown early in his life and spent some time in Canada to recover.
Allegheny College activities included:
Editor-in-Chief of Kaldron Year Book
Staff member of The Literary Monthly
Member of the Quill Club
Member of the Tingley Biological Club
Member of the Dutton Society of Applied Science
Member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity
Member of Pi Delta Epsilon Fraternity
The 1922 Kaldron (Allegheny College Year Book) said of John:
"Genius itself could not condense a really representative sketch of this young man in the limits of a Senior write-up; we doubt if the English language would prove equal to the task; probably all its defective verbs would buckle under the strain and a grievous shortage of exclamatory adjectives would become apparent. May we say that he is an enthusiast, a faddist, an energist, a humorist, an impersonalist, a cosmopolite, and a number of other things beyond our comprehension and, we judge, largely beyond his own. However, we must admit that he makes 'em sound plausible. Another year the professors will surely miss his cheerful air of limitless intelligence and his ready, if somewhat irrelevant, answers. His was the brain behind the typewriter which edited this book, we will say, rather than the usual thing about tireless energy and indomitable resolve."
NOTES FROM OBITUARY/FUNERAL WRITE-UP
John C[araway] Bird was born on April 2, 1898 in Meadville, Penns. All of his public school education was had in Francisco, Indiana, where he graduated at seventeen, and began work at the family coal mine, in which his father had lost his life when John was eight years old. At eighteen John became mine manager and later superintendent. In 1917 the family, which included his mother Ella C. Bird and two younger brothers, George and Paul, returned to Meadville so that John could enter Allegheny College, from which his father George W. Bird and other relatives had graduated.
In 1924 he married Marie McCormack, then assistant librarian at Allegheny, and in 1925 moved to Keystone Heights with his wife and mother, who was a member of this church and community until her death in 1960.
John was a various times a highway engineer for the state of Florida, and an organizer of a wholesale grocery business in Michigan. But in 1942 he became a civilian engineer for the U.S. Army at Camp Blanding, Florida where he directed highway construction and beautification of the huge camp.
In 1946 he went to the Philippines as a reconstruction engineer, following the Japanese surrender, and a year later to Okinawa, where he spent 12 years as a safety engineer and supervisor of anti-aircraft weapon installation. His wife Marie and their son, Paul, and daughter Margaret joined him and lived with him there until they retired in 1959 to Keystone Heights.
He and his wife adopted two Okinawan children, Tom and Susan, now graduates of Keystone Heights High School and Florida universities.
Upon their return to Florida, John began to develop his real estate interests, initiated years earlier while he was still in Okinawa. He showed great foresight in this, also originality and consideration for the natural beauty of the various projects he undertook.
He brought a great sense of humor to all areas in which he worked. Many friends will remember him best because he never took himself too seriously; others will remember him for his great generosity mostly undertaken anonymously.
- (Research):John may have been named originally after a family friend, John Lawrence. Later, John Bird was called John Caraway Bird for the rest of his life. It is unclear when the name was changed and whether the name was ever officially changed. John Lawrence founded the Lawrence Development Company, which was the founder of Keystone Heights, Florida. John C. Bird worked for this company for a while selling Florida real estate. John C. Bird was friends for life with Harold Lawrence, who may have been John Lawrence's son, more nearly John Bird's age.
- SSN issued in Florida
- He was a mine supervisor at the age of 19 in Francisco, Indiana. Later moved to Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Was dying of cancer of the kidney. Just after Thanksgiving dinner, he shot himself in the stomach to avoid suffering longer. Died a few days later.
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1898 - 1972 (74 years)
