John Pippin

I’ve known John for 6 years. I met John at the Cottage Cafe and we ate together (John had breakfast while I had lunch) 5 days per week for a few years and then 1 day per week. . John talked, a lot. With John’s hearing loss, it was easier when he did most of the talking and I did the listening. . John had stories about growing up stealing sodas from a local warehouse, chasing the young girls in the neighborhood, enlisting as a Marine to serve his country, his work on the CERN Large Hadron Collider, and building, flying, crashing, rebuilding, and flying his ultralights. I don’t think John would recommend the Marines to anyone he knew, but he was proud to be a Marine. . Some of John’s stories were hard to believe, embellished to put it politely. He would own up to exaggeration, occasionally saying that “This was true”, which left me to wonder if what he said other times was embellished. . I was at John’s home on occasion, trying to help him with a computer or phone problem. Sometimes we would have to call Customer Support. John would let out a string of profanity while we were on hold. I asked him, “Are you a Marine?” He said he was. I then said that he “should stop swearing like a Sailor”. I got my point across, and John kept his swearing down to one or two choice words. . I drove John to the Honda dealer to pick up his beloved Scooter. While John took it for a final test ride, I asked the salesman if he ever sold to an older person, to which he said no. We both wished John the best as he roared off with his Scoot. Each Spring, I would look forward to seeing John come roaring up to the Cottage Cafe on his Scoot. I didn’t get to see him ride it this year. 🙁 . John was a fixture at the Cottage Cafe. He personally trained all the servers that he wanted ‘bacon - medium, eggs - scrambled, toast - light tan - UNCUT, and coffee - lots of coffee, and cold creamer and blue sweetener’. There have been quite a few servers that left recently, but John quickly learned the new servers’ names and they knew him, and his order. . John loved all the servers but he had his favorites. Jesse (John’s Mom’s name was Jessie) and John would kid that she was his Mom. She would joke that he had better do his chores when he got home. . Stephany (Blondie) was another one that caught John’s eye. We never did find out if it was just her waitress flirtation, but we believe she is truly a wonderful person who brought joy to our lives. . Amanda was always there with coffee and her infectious smile. . I often had to help John with names. He knew the person, but the name sometimes got stuck. One name was easy for John to remember. This waitress somehow got whipped cream on her backside. John used this memory to remember that her name was Ashley. . . John did a lot in his life. He loved a few women, but especially loved and treasured his lovely daughter, Debi. John told me about taking young Debi to McDonald's, where she ate part of a cheeseburger and John got to finish off the rest of it. One day, Debi ate the whole cheeseburger, and John went hungry. 😉 . . Don’t wait Hug your loved ones Spend time with your friends Before time runs out . . John, it was my privilege and joy to know you.

One of the Good ones…… Love Deb & Doug

I'm sure the first seat at the Cottage Cafe will be known as John's seat. He will be missed by many.