John E. Vivian

HERE IS MY DAD'S OBITUARY, WHICH RAN IN "THE PALM BEACH POST" ON TUESDAY, MARCH 25:
VIVIAN, John Eugene

John E. Vivian, 81, of Lantana rejoined his daughters, Robin and Debi, on Good Friday at 3:30 a.m. John, who served almost a quarter-century in the U.S. Navy, died March 25. His wife Beverly, to whom he was married 62 years, was at his side.
John’s life exemplified the quote “Every man dies; not every man really lives” from the movie “Braveheart.”
After joining the U.S. Navy in 1952, he headed to Antarctica to serve on the icebreaker “USS Glacier.” He spent many months, over several years, on the icy continent. Back in Rhode Island, Mom took great care of their three kids.
Later, in 1968, John took his wife, two daughters and son (John “J.D.” Vivian) to Rota, Spain, to live under a fascist dictator, Generalissimo Francisco Franco, an ally of Adolf Hitler as early as 1936. By 1968, however, the U.S. government considered Franco an ally because he controlled access to the Straits of Gibraltar, 30 miles west of the submarine base where the Vivians lived.
John piloted Beverly – as well as J.D. (then 12), Robin (10) and Debi (8) around the tiny roads of southern Spain – in the family’s full-size Plymouth Fury station wagon. During John’s annual 30-day vacations, the family traveled throughout Western Europe. Three years later, in 1971, they returned to the States.
Soon, John uprooted his clan during yet another transfer. The Vivians’ new duty station: Key West. (This was long before cruise ships, new bridges, high-rise condos and time-share projects arrived.) The family’s back yard was, literally, the Gulf of Mexico, which delivered a steady feast of shrimp and lobster, caught by net or hand.
In late 1974, John retired; moved his family to Lantana, Fla.; and started working for the U.S. Postal Service. He eventually became a window clerk and part-time supervisor at the Lantana Post Office. He retired from there about 25 years later. In the meantime, he served on the Lantana Town Council for nine years in the 1990s.
John also was a 32nd-degree Mason and a Shriner, and active in church. Their faith carried John and Beverly through life-shattering experiences.
John Vivian also had a sense of humor. His favorite joke was this – which, even during his final hospital stay (March 21-24), he told to his variety of nurses and doctors: “For our 25th wedding anniversary, I took my wife to Hawaii. Do you know what I did for our 50th anniversary?” The victim – er, listener – would, of course, sport a puzzled look. At that point, he would quip “I went back to pick her up!”
He is survived by his wife, Beverly; son, John “J.D.,” of South Palm Beach; five granddaughters; three great-granddaughters; and a great-grandson. They miss him and always will. Fortunately, they have plenty of pleasant memories of a great husband, father, grandfather and great-grandpa.
Please send donations to Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation, 5300 East Ave., West Palm Beach, Florida 33407; or visit hpbcf.org and click on “Ways to Give.”
On Friday, April 1, from 6 to 8 p.m., you may pay respects to the family at Palm Beach Memorial Park Funeral Home, 3691 Seacrest Blvd., Lantana. Funeral services will be Saturday, April 2, at 11 a.m. at Palm Beach Memorial Park Cemetery (same address). Interment follows.