John William Childers passed away on September 21, 2024, at the age of 80 years old. He died of acute cardiac arrest surrounded by his loving family.
Born on April 11, 1944, in Oxnard, CA, he moved with his family to a turkey farm in Atascadero, CA, when he was one year old. He grew up in south Atascadero by Garden Farms, where he had a memorable childhood playing in the open fields of south Atascadero with his three brothers and Garden Farms buddies. He helped on the family turkey farm and many of the neighboring farms.
He went to Santa Margarita Grade School, then Atascadero Junior High School, and onto Atascadero High School, where he excelled in football and wrestling, winning a CIF Championship in wrestling.
Soon after high school, he married Sandra Bradshaw, and they had three sons: Johnny, Rod, and Timmy. John became a journeyman in the Pipe Trades, Local 403, working at the many schools, hospitals, and housing developments in San Luis Obispo County. He worked as a “nuclear pipefitter” at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, and he also worked in Las Vegas in the construction of the big casinos.
After a divorce from Sandy, John met Colleen Wiggins (Gage), and they married in 1977, blending their two families of three boys and one girl, Spring. Together, they bought a 10-acre farm in Garden Farms and proceeded to fix it up and raise beef cattle, pigs, sheep, dairy goats, and horses. The next adventure was building and running a frozen yogurt shop in San Luis Obispo and supporting Colleen in developing a U-pick berry and pumpkin farm.
John enjoyed traveling the world with Colleen as VOCA volunteers (farm advisors) to the Eastern European countries of Ukraine, Macedonia, Russia, and Armenia. His retirement years were spent manicuring the 10-acre Blue Sky Garden Farms, growing hay for Colleen’s dairy goats, and being an active member of the San Luis Obispo Elks Lodge.
John was preceded in death by his parents, Ray and Gladys Childers, and his siblings, Raymond and Arthur Childers. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Colleen Childers; sons Johnny (Lani) Childers of Harker Heights, TX, Rod (Linda) Childers of San Luis Obispo, CA, Timmy Childers of Atascadero, CA and stepdaughter Spring (Ron) Smith of San Francisco, CA; and grandchildren Will(Christine) Childers, Christian Childers, and August Smith; and brother Clement(Sharon) Childers of Napa, CA, and numerous nieces and nephews.
John will be remembered for his sense of humor and positive outlook on life. His favorite saying was to “keep a smile on your face and a song in your heart, and everything will be ok.”
A Vigil Service will be held at Chapel of the Roses, Atascadero, CA, on November 9, 2024 from
7-8 p.m.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, November 10, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. at the Pavilion on the Lake, Atascadero, CA.
