John Loarie grew up in Deerfield, Illinois, which was a rural village 30 miles north of Chicago. He was the second oldest in a family of 5 brothers and one sister. He was about 5 years younger than his older brother, so while he tried to do things with his older brother, he did not fit in. He became the older brother to his younger siblings and was the baby sitter at age 7 and on.

As he grew up, he built wood and plastic models, crystal radio sets, a club house fort, and enjoyed swimming at the beach and the country club pool his grand parents belonged to. He was active in scouts and missed becoming an Eagle by 4 merit badges. He helped raise money for the scouts by selling Christmas wreaths door to door. One year he sold over 42, which was a record.  He went to Boy Scout summer camp, loved to do camp outs and scout activities.

His favorite memory was a 2 week, 250 mile canoe trip in the Wisconsin Chain of Lakes. He helped make canoes for the explorer scouts by hand laying up fiberglass over a mold.  However, by the time he had a driver’s license, he had dropped out of scouts, with a new interest in dating and going steady. In his senior year, he became the president of the parish teen club.

He and his brothers had paper routes and learned the value of money at an early age.

He worked in the summers, in various jobs including a clerk in a paint store, messenger for a photo engraver in Chicago, clerk in a men’s clothing store, and construction. He bought his first car, a used 1954 Ford Victoria with money he earned. In college, he worked for the post office during the Christmas break.

John graduated from Notre Dame High School in Niles. While in high school, John took an interest in submarines. He often visited the captured U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. He went to University of Notre Dame on a NROTC scholarship and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1964.

While a midshipman, he had summer cruises which included 6 weeks on the USS Randolph (CVS-15), 3 weeks with Navy Air at Corpus Christie, Marine Corps exposure at Little Creek including a mock landing on the beach (John Wayne style), and a 6 week cruise in WESTPAC aboard the submarine USS Perch (APSS-313). He enjoyed standing watch on the bridge of the Perch as a junior OOD. The Perch was one of the last of fleet boats and cruised on the surface. John also did some training at the sub base in Groton, CT.

John was commissioned an Ensign in August 1964. He did not pursue the submarine service because he was burnt out on the academic side. He took over 22 credit hours per semester for the last two years. He did not want to go to Nuclear Power School and deal with anymore academic stress.

He went to Minesweep School in Charleston and then became the engineering officer aboard the USS Engage (MSO-433) in Long Beach, California. He reported on board in November 1964 and was a qualified OOD in 2 weeks. In 1965, The Engage did local operations on the coast and underway training in San Diego. It was deployed to WESTPAC in February, 1966. The cruising speed of the minesweep was about 9 knots. It took about 3 months for the minesweep and its squadron of 4 sister ships to get to Viet Nam where it was used as a picket in the blockade of the Vietnamese coast. This operation was called Market Time. For the most part, the ship patrolled the coast and stopped local fisherman and small craft used for transport of people and supplies.

John stood watch on the bridge and in the off hours he was a boarding officer. He either went on board the vessel being inspected when it was alongside or went out in the motor whale boat, inspecting papers and looking for contraband.

Many civilians were detained because of lack of papers. In fact some were picked up several times…the food aboard ship was much better than what they had.  Some Vietnamese would deliberately leave their papers at their village and try to get caught. The bosun soon caught on and put them to work chipping and painting.

In addition to being a boarding officer and a watch stander on the bridge, John was engineering officer; which required reports, filing of CASRPTS (Casualty Reports, Navy talk for broken equipment), co-ordination of repair work by tender and shipyard personnel, training, etc. He often found himself getting 4 hours of sleep a day. When one of the officers got appendicitis, the duty on the bridge became a port and starboard watch (12 hours on and 12 off).

The Engage was one of the most reliable ships in the squadron. One time it was on station for 63 days because a sister ship broke down. 

In August, 1966 John was transferred from the Engage to the USS Haverfield (DER-393), where he became the engineering officer. Haverfield was home ported in Pearl Harbor and spent 8 months a year deployed to WESTPAC. Haverfield was assigned to Market time about a third of the time, a third to being station ship in Hong Kong, and third Taiwan Straits patrol. After the Pueblo incident, the Navy had a DER off the coast of Red China 24/7 in the Taiwan Straits. 

The weather in the straits during the fall was dreadful. Typhoon weather was typical. The waves were 50 feet high, with the period between peaks several ship lengths. The Haverfield was 12 miles off the coast of China, making about 3 knots for about 3 days and then turn around and go in the opposite direction. The turning around was the tricky part. The turn had to start as the ship was cresting a wave and get around before the trough.

John had the mid watch on one occasion when the Haverfield got caught by the wind and the turn went too slow. All four engines were on the line, port ahead full, starboard back and the rudder full over, but the ship could not twist fast enough. The Haverfield was caught in the trough and took a 67 degree roll. She just hung there for what seemed like an eternity as the next wave came crashing over her. John says that God had other plans for him and the rest of the crew.

The Engage was involved in a combat situation in which crewmen were ambushed while attempting to render first aid to what appeared to be a wounded fisherman. The Haverfield did not have any direct combat exposure other than destroying some caves along the coast with its 3” 50’s. It was a back up ship in an operation where a trawler attempted to bring in arms to the Batangan peninsula south of Cho Lei. The trawler was hit and grounded on a sand bar by a sister DER.

John left the Navy in December of 1969 after 5 ½ years. He stayed on the coast and worked as a project engineer for American Can and later for Pharmaseal. He built new plant in Puerto Rico for Pharmaseal. He spent 18 months as the on site engineer in charge of the design and installation of the manufacturing process equipment for making latex catheters. He went to night school under the GI Bill and received his MBA from Long Beach State in 1977. 

Pharmaseal transferred him to a company it had acquired in San Diego county in 1978 where he became the production manager. He left Pharmaseal in 1979 to become the Vice President of Technical Affairs and Regulatory Compliance at GST Labs in La Jolla. In 1980, he became the Vice President of Operations for Kimco, a small company in San Marcos, Ca making DC brushless motors and other electro mechanical devices. In 1986, John became the production manager for Astromec, a motor manufacturer in Carson City. NV.

In 1988, John joined SHURflo as the Chief Electrical Engineer, responsible for the engineering of all the DC motors used in the SHURflo pumps. John was made Vice President of engineering six months later and worked for SHURflo for the next 19 years. During that time, SHURflo went from a family owned business doing $25 million to a $120 million division of Pentair. The company had been acquired 3 times in 14 years. John held various vice president positions, including heading up the RV/Marine division. He retired in 2007.

John has served on the board of directors for Motor Manufacturers association and was vice president of industry association in 2002. He was on the board at Wellington Electric in Connecticut. He continues to serve on the board of Intellicept, the manufacturer of Skatestoppers.

After leaving the Navy, John learned how to sail and owned sailboats from 1974 to 1990. He has sailed along the southern California coast, Lake Tahoe, Bahia de Los Angels in the Sea of Cortes and chartered boats in the Virgin Islands. He lived aboard a MacGregor 25 for 18 months in San Diego in 1985-6. He often sailed 3 times a week in San Diego Bay. His experience ranges from a Venture 21 to a Pearson 38.

Recently, John has been involved in missionary work with New Life International, providing water purification equipment to the poorest of the poor in over 59 countries. John made a trip to Zambia in Africa in 2006 to help in the installation of these purifiers.

John and his wife Barbara have 9 children and 12 grandchildren (two more due in the next few months). They reside in Rancho Santa Margarita, California where John takes classes in water color. John has been doing water color painting for more than 6 years. John enjoys sailing, fishing, model making and woodworking.