From Bo Jones:

John and I were best friends growing up. In September of '65 John went into the Navy. In 1969 we enrolled in Golden West College for one year. John moved to Kauai in 1970 after Larry Brown told him how fantastic the Island was. I took a 2 week vacation in 1971 and flew to Kauai for a visit and also stayed. John started his own sport diving business and worked on both Maui and Kauai. Larry and I attended the State paramedic program at Queens Medical Center in Honolulu and returned to Kauai driving the ambulance out of Wilcox Hospital. In July of 1979 we received a call to respond to a diver with the Bends (Decompression Sickness). It was John and his condition was critical. Larry and I initiated emergency procedures and returned to Wilcox Hospital. The closest decompression chamber was at Pearl Harbor on Oahu. We immediately got John on a flight to Honolulu along with John's brothers Don and Bill with myself as medical attendant . John was transported to Pearl Harbor and immedietly placed in the decompression chamber (A 10-12 hour procedure to allow nitrogen bubbles to dissolve in the blood stream). Don, Bill and I got a hotel room to await the procedure. About 2 hours later I had an intense and overwhelming belief that I needed to return to the chamber. I left Don and Bill in the room and took a cab back to Pearl. I was looking at John through the viewing port when he turned his eyes to me. I knew he was saying goodbye. I was sitting in a chair with tears streaming down my cheeks when about 2 hours later the Navy doctor approached me and said John had a nitrogen bubble lodged in his brain stem and no longer had any brain activity. I was still on duty and returned to Kauai on an early flight. Larry picked me up at the airport and we returned to Wilcox. John was removed from life support 3 days later with his family and several friends by his side.
Anyway, as I sit here with tears on my cheeks all my memories of those years John and I spent together were among the happiest of my life. He was an exceptional human being and an exceptional and remarkable friend.