September's Featured Vet: John Charles Raynor
WINNEMUCCA - With the Fourth of July past and the Labor Day weekend recent history, I thought it about time another vet in our area was honored. This time it's John Raynor of Golconda. He represents both veterans and labor: He currently works at Marigold Mine.
John was born in Boulder, Colo., on June 9, 1944 to (Geraldine) Lorraine and Charles Raynor. (He's moved around quite a bit since then.) His birth family, which by now included brother Robert and sister, Darlene, moved to the country near Boulder when he was six. There he attended Pleasant View School through the third grade. Then the family moved to a ranch near Lander, Wyo. He graduated from Fremont County Vocational High School in 1962. After graduation, he moved to Safford, Ariz., where he helped his dad farm; he also worked part time in a sawmill.
Raynor attended Eastern Arizona Jr. College, but returned to Wyoming in the fall of 1963, where he attended the University of Wyoming in '63 and '64. He participated in Air Force ROTC while at the university and worked for the U.S. Forest Service.
In 1964 he married Nadine Duke and also enlisted in the Air Force. Basic training was at Lackland Air Base in San Antonio, Texas. He served in the Air Force from 1964 to 1968, where he achieved the rank of E4 as an aircraft mechanic. After training on B-47 bombers he worked on C-124 Globemasters, then on C-130 Hercules and C-124 Starlifters as a crew chief.
Although he's a Vietnam Vet, he really doesn't claim to have served there - he flew in, was on the ground about 45 minutes while cargo was unloaded, and flew out again. Raynor made contact with ground this way in quite a few countries.
Upon being discharged in 1968, John Raynor, with his wife and children (he had two by this time - David Augusto and Jay Dee Charles) returned to Wyoming, where he again attended the University of Wyoming while working for the Forest Service. His third child, Crystal Lizinda, was born in 1970.
Raynor completed his B.S. begree in microbiology at Southwest Missouri State University, and worked seven years for the Missouri State veterinary lab. He and his family returned to Wyoming, where he got a better paying job as a mechanic in the uranium mines.
John Raynor, wife and children finally moved to the Winnemucca area in 1985. He worked in well drilling, then in hydraulic repairs and pump shops. He went to Great Basin College and received a B.A. degree in education K-8. Finally, he went to work in the gold mines, where he still works as a mechanic.
Though growing up on a ranch requires mechanical knowledge, his professional skills were honed in the Air Force, where he graduated second in his class. He received letters of accommodation from the Air Force and from the governor of Wyoming for academic achievement in Air Force mechanics training. His training has served him well.
Since he never saw action in the Vietnam conflict, he knows he doesn't suffers from posttraumatic stress syndrome. Instead, he claims, "I've always been a little bit nuts!" The service only affected his life and his relationships with his family and friends in a good way, he says; it didn't affect anything in a bad way.
Raynor says, "Everyone, no matter what, even the physically disabled (i.e., wheelchair- bound, etc.), should serve their country in one capacity or another. And, it should be a requirement to run for public office." He takes great pride in the fact that he served.
Mr. Raynor's grandson, Michael Raynor, is in the armed forces. Grandson Sean Raynor was just discharged after serving in Iraq. Mike served in Afghanistan. He also has a grand daughter, Jorden Raynor, on the Honor Guard here in Winnemucca. Members of his family have served in the military since the Revolutionary War.
Raynor intends to retire to a little ranch he recently bought near White Bird, Idaho. He hopes to run a few cattle and horses, and raise some fruit and nut trees. Other than that he wants to spend his mornings and evenings enjoying views of the Salmon River Valley below, and sipping coffee on his front porch. His days will be spent tending his ranch and "drowning a worm" in the clear waters of the Salmon River that flows not far below.
We salute you, John Raynor.
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