John Leaming McGuire

John L. McGuire 92 passed away peacefully on June 10. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Helen, and their two children, Kevin Scott and Maureen Sue McGuire and two grandchildren. John L. McGuire was born October 31, 1918, in Highland Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A few years later they the family moved to Denver before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, where, as an elementary school student, John sold The Saturday Evening Post door-to-door, building a large group of subscribers. The family later lived in Falls Church, Virginia, when his father worked at Arlington National Cemetery. After his father's death in 1931, his mother, he and his brother moved to Downers Grove, Illinois. While attending high school, John held various jobs, enabling him to go to theater productions, opera and symphony concerts in Chicago. He graduated from Downers Grove High School in 1936. He worked a couple of years before enrolling in college, and graduating from the YMCA College in 1942 with a business major. In the summer of 1942, he joined the Marine Corps pilot training program at Iowa City. A year later he graduated from the Navy flight training program and was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant. Most of his service was in the South Pacific. He was stationed on Emirau and flew 53 combat missions as a pilot of a PBJ. He was awarded the Air Medal, and was honorably discharged from the reserves in 1956. He returned to Chicago and worked in several advertising sales positions, last of which was The National Provisioner, where he met his future wife, Helen. They were married February 4, 1950 in Chicago. In November of 1952 he accepted a position as a sales representative for the new television station in Denver, KOA-TV. A year later he resigned to start his own business, a sales representative company of TV and radio stations in the Rocky Mountain area. He sold the business in 1988 and retired. He then began taking European history and Russian language classes at the University of Denver, and he tutored Russian emigres in Denver until 2005. He enjoyed skiing and skied often in the Colorado mountains up to his 80th birthday. He also enjoyed traveling and made many trips in the United States, Mexico, Canada and, especially, Europe. In leisure time he enjoyed attending opera, symphony concerts and theater, playing bridge, reading current affairs books, playing the flute and getting together with colleagues in the broadcasting/advertising field. He was a member of the Denver ""Dinosaurs Club"", the First Tuesday group, and the Denver Art Museum. John also planned many reunions for his Marine Corps Squadron; the group kept in close contact and had reunions every two or three years until 2004. Memorial services will be held at Wellshire Presbyterian Church, 2999 S. Colorado Blvd., Denver on Friday, June 17th at 10:30 am. Please share memories and condolences by visiting the Guest Book link below.