JOHN J. PAYNE SR.
John J. Payne, Sr. was born at home on July 2, 1940, son of Harley and Mildred Payne of Green City, in a world much calmer and milder where life was familiar and predictable. Even though the USA would enter WWII only a year and a half later causing turmoil for the rest of the world, he carried this small-town vibe and his Christian faith with him his whole life, having always considered the Green City area the next best thing to paradise. Never having seen the ocean, and needing to experience the rest of the world, he entered the navy from High School. The U.S.S. Canberra was his ship, and he was fortunate to cruise around the world aboard it during the Korean War, yet seeing no wartime action. He was trained as an electrician. After serving, he moved with his older sisters Frances and Margaret who resided in the Washington, DC area. There he found employment with the Chesapeake and Potomac Bell System (telephone company) and had this same job working on the switching-house equipment until he retired.
He met Veronica Stihel of Lowber, PA where she was an operator in the same building and married in 1965. They had two children Sharon A. Payne (Wilson) and Rev. John J Payne (Jr.) John used to take his kids to the Smithsonian museums almost every month and drive the family across the country to see the Old West with a yearly stop in Green City, the best town on the map. There he retired at 53 to a farmette of 13 acres (Hwy YY and Anchor Lane, which he named.) John was enchanted with the cowboy life, reading westerns and war novels. He enjoyed baseball immensely. In 2015, John and Veronica moved to Arizona to be near his daughter when he could no longer mow 4 acres. He liked to go into the desert park near his house up to three times a day looking at the mountains, the mule deer and the cacti. He had a good life and even to the end he seemed to enjoy himself.
He died peacefully in his sleep on June 18, 2025, preceded in death by his wife Veronica A. Payne, his sister Frances Payne (Kerns). He is survived by his sister Margaret Myers, his two children, and son-in-law, Robert Wilson.
A bit said about his paternal grandfather (John Johnson Payne) in his obituary seems to sum up John’s similar character: “John Payne was one of nature’s noblemen, honest and industrious, quiet and unassuming at all times. His farm was a model of neatness and was a true reflection of the man.”
Burial of his remains will take place at a small graveside service on Wednesday, September 3, 2025 at noon in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Green City to be interred with his parents Harley and Mildred.
