Obituary of John William Childers, 80
John William Childers.
April 11, 1944 – Sept. 21, 2024
Atascadero, California
– 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 40-acre turkey farm in Atascadero, CA, when he was 1 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 3 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, making the champion varsity team as a sophomore fullback, and the wrestling team- 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 also worked in Las Vegas in the construction of the big casinos.
After a divorce from Sandy, John met Colleen Wiggins (Gage), and they got married in 1977, blending their 2 families of 3 boys and 1 girl, Spring. Together they bought a 10-acre farm in Garden Farms 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 the development of a U-Pik berry farm and pumpkin farm. He 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 also being an active member of the San Luis Obispo Elks Lodge. He was preceded in death by his parents Ray and Gladys Childers; and his siblings Raymond and Arthur Childers, and a granddaughter Kayla Childers.
John 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 Ryan (Nicole) Anderson, Will(Christine) Childers, Christian Childers, and August Smith; and great-grandson Reiden Anderson 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, on Nov. 9, 2024, from 7-8 p.m. A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. at the Pavilion on the Lake, Atascadero.
Published by San Luis Obispo County Tribune from Oct. 27 to Oct. 30, 2024.
From Legacy Memorial.
The Paso Robles Daily News accepts and publishes local obituaries and death notices free of charge from individuals and local funeral homes. See information and tips here on writing an obituary. Please submit the obituary a few days before services, if possible. To submit an obituary, please email it to skye@accesspublishing.com with “obituary” in the subject line. Please email a photo along with the obituary.
