John was a talented artist, woodturner and pyrographer, and a generous teacher.  He will be missed by the turning community.  Wishing his  family strength and peace  in days to come.

John was our good friend for many years.
Returning from a celebration of my brother's life, also 63, we were shocked to find John had passed.  We're grieving the loss of such a good friend.
Please accept our heartfelt condolences.
Paul and Dorene Ernst

I lived in the same building with John, neighbors, for 16 years. He was a great neighbor and friend, John was really smart and a fantastic artist, I wish we were still neighbors and friends.

My Memories of John Nofsinger
I have vivid memories of my late husband Phil Brown’s kind-hearted and artistically talented friend John Nofsinger.  I might have met him at Capital Area Woodturner picnics or Christmas parties in the late 1990s.  One year in the early 2000s around Christmas he brought us a delicious tenderloin from a deer he had hunted.  Phil grilled it and had a wonderful dinner with him.  He did the same a second time, and I will never forget how delicious his venison was and what a gift it was.  Phil and I went to see him in his studio at the Lorton Workhouse Arts Center.  We also visited him in his apartment, and John came to some of our parties.
John was a creative and talented wood turner and an artist with his unique  burned and bleached designs with which he decorated his bowls. He collaborated with Phil on a curly maple platter which he made into a true work of art with his artful and complex images of a baseball game in action, which they named Diamonds Are Forever.  It was juried into the American Association of Woodturners 2006 Exhibition Step Up to the Plate which opened in Louisville Kentucky at the Louisville Slugger Museum and moved to St. Paul and Asheville North Carolina.  John also exhibited his own figured maple plate Ode to the Babe, Over the Grandstands, created of pyrography, bleach, paint, ink and dye.  I remember him telling me he had to get special permission to use the image of Babe Ruth.  
The year after Phil died, John worked with David Fry and Lynda Smith-Bugge in September 2019 to make the totem sculpture that Phil had talked about making for years but never did.  It started with a solid shape I found on which Phil had written the word “totem.”  They selected flare shape and cone shaped from the many hundreds of rough-turned bowls Phil had left.  John figured out how to insert a metal pole through all the pieces to hold it together and painted the sections, adding names of the wood and numbers that Phil had written on var

John was a good friend to my husband Paul and I. 
We purchased his beautiful artwork.

My husband has been trying to reach John. 
Today he said he feared John had died. 
I looked for him online, found this.

I am so sorry for your loss, I know John loved his family very much. He spoke of you often before he got too sick to visit us.
I'm in shock. Not sure how I will tell Paul.
RIP John.
Love
Paul and Dorene Ernst

I knew John when we were both at the Workhouse Arts Center.  He was such a nice guy.  He made a special salad bowl for me to give to my nephew when he got married.  He engraved their names the date and the design from their invitation on the outside of the bowl.  He even gave me the wood salad tongs and didn’t charge me for them.  He spoke of his family often and talked about a trip he took once to visit his brother.  My heart is heavy.  He was a special soul with a big heart.  He will be greatly missed.  Rest in peace my friend!

I first met John at my fathers funeral (Mark Noffsinger) in 1998. We seemed to hit it off right away with our common passion for art and music.  We planned to  meet and then spent a day fishing at the Potomac River. I think we each caught a catfish:) 
At the end of the day he gave me a beautiful pencil drawing he had done of Jimi Hendrix.
I'll always remember how thoughtful and kind he was to me during that sad time..
Deepest condolences to family and friends. May he live in our hearts forever by remembering memories like this..

If anyone would like to see more images of John's artwork you can find his old website on the web archive here: 

https://web.archive.org/web/20170515231249/http://johnnoffsinger.com/

I met John when he was working with the Artisans Center in Waynesboro. He did several wonderful exhibits at the Center. Throughout that process I got to know John as the kind and generous person he was. Always had a smile to share and a hug for those he cared about. He will be missed! Sympathies and love to the family. 

All my best,
Liz Moss

So sorry to hear about John's passing. I knew him for his amazing art. He was a great person to work with on the few pieces we created with both wood and honeysuckle. Just last month the owner of a high end gallery in North Carolina asked to carry our collaborative work - his choice of the finest pieces.

I see our life at a first level - that of a particle of pollen, having left the  very center at the beginning of pollination and now spread across the entire surface of a beautiful purple wild aster flower. A second level would be the stage of leaf formation within the seed which will then begin the look of the parent plant. To look down at an aster flower and see this brings a whole new way of thinking, and everything in life begins to  makes sense.

John lives on!

I worked with John at Burke Goodyear back in 1998, and years past that.  He was the best alignment technician I ever knew, and would help me with out question. His wood work always blew my mind, what a gift he had! He would always tell me to let him know if I found a big knot/burl in a tree. As those were a desired piece for wood turning, and I think of him every time I see one still. It was a pleasure to work with John and he will be missed by many. My sincere condolences to his family. Rest in peace good fella, Justin Brudvig.

Uncle John was always my favorite at family gatherings. He always had a big smile and a joke to fit (or not fit) any occasion. 

He loved live music and this photo was from the last concert I went to with him (a blues festival near the Chesapeake bay bridge). I was with him a week before he passed to help with chores and share a meal together. I tried to convince him one last time to join my brother Chris and I at the Offspring concert that weekend, but wasn't feeling up for it. I never though that would be my last meal with him, but I'm glad I got to say goodbye and I really hope he was there with us in spirit at the concert that night.

This is a very strange thing. I am at the Demaine funeral home to pick up my mother's ashes and I have to sign for them and when I look at the ledger two lines up from my mother is this name. I went to high school with John , we graduated from Annandale high school together in 1978.
I have often thought about him and wanted to reconnect but I have not had any luck. Much love to John and his family.
Shawn Malone

I knew John through Art A La Carte Gallery.  He was a doll! What a gentle soul! His artwork was incredible! 


I have known John for many years, having met him through our woodturning club in Alexandria, Capital Area Woodturners.  John was a little touchy sometimes but he was a brilliant woodturner and artist.  I always enjoyed seeing him.  Our prayers are with his family.

OBITUARY

John Pierce Noffsinger

1 July, 1960 – 22 August, 2023

Demaine Funeral Home

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