John Spiridion Calligheris Jr. was born on August 24, 1929 in Brooklyn NY. The son of a Greek immigrant father and an Irish mother, he and his sister Penelope Ann grew up in the 3 rooms behind his father’s electronics store on Coney Island Avenue. He thought Brooklyn was the best place in the world to grow up.
He attended Catholic school at St. Rose of Lima, and when not in school he and his friends swam, fished and played in the Lower Bay off Coney Island. He had a life-long love of the water and the outdoors.
During the Korean war he served aboard the carrier USS Princeton as an electronics officer in a A-D Skyraider. His unit flew night missions and he was especially proud of the air support he and his pilot were able to give to soldiers in the retreat from the Chosen Reservoir.
On his return from Korea he worked briefly on Wall St and then joined the New York City Police Department. He lived on Staten Island with his first wife and later in Stony Brook, New York.
A job related injury ended his career with the police department and in his late forties he attended and graduated from the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia.
He traveled the West with his buddy Tom looking for adventure, prospecting for uranium, and searching for treasure in small town gun and antique stores. With his dog, Scout, he crisscrossed the country looking for the next best place and the next best deal.
He settled in Hamilton, Montana, bought a house, built a hanger at the airport and flew his Cessna throughout the Bitterroot Valley.
He met and married his wife Beverley in Boise Idaho in 2003. They divided their time between Boise and Hamilton.
He is survived by his wife Beverley, his two children Cathleen (Jeff) Cobb and Michael, and three stepchildren, Greg Cable, Cherie McMains, and Alisha (Mike) Miller.