John B. Graham Jr.

John was born at home in Messick, Virginia on July 27, 1934. He graduated from Poquoson High in 1951 as a multi-sport athlete and Senior Class President. He excelled at football and went on to play at Randolph Macon College where he graduated with a degree in Physics. He was a four-year letterman and two-time team captain, and was also named Little All-American his senior year. He was a member of Lambda Chi Fraternity and the Boydton Society. In 2015, he was inducted into the RMC Athletic Hall of Fame.

His distinguished professional career began at NASA lasting 19 years and included working side by side with the original seven astronauts during the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions. Amongst his many positions, John was responsible for reconstructing images which were taken from deep space for orbital tracking purposes. John holds the honor of being the first person to ever view a photograph of the earth from the moon's surface. He was later promoted to the Missions Operation Manager for the Viking Project to Mars when he was faced with the most difficult decision of his life. In 1973, John’s father died suddenly, leaving the future of their family seafood business, Graham & Rollins in doubt. John’s passion to preserve this family legacy cemented his decision to retire early from NASA to run the family business. While President, John grew the business threefold, employing family members, including his children with his wife of 37 years, Sandra Graham.

John and Sandy raised their family in White House Cove. This waterfront neighborhood which took him over seven years to complete was John’s vision, made possible by his creativity and hard work. Several of his NASA coworkers as well as family members and close friends still reside there today. The memories created from his home, which was also built by him, has served as the centerpiece of many gatherings for families and friends.

During this time, John discovered his passion for the sport of wrestling. Having never wrestled himself, he became involved while supporting his sons who began wrestling at an early age. John recognized that to be successful in the sport, you needed to maintain the qualities that had carried him so far in life: determination, dedication, and discipline. John took his energy and made his mark on wrestling as well. John was integral in the creation of the Peninsula Wrestling Association and the founding of the Virginia Duals. This is a one-of-a-kind team dual tournament where high school and college wrestlers compete side by side. It began in 1981 at the Hampton Coliseum and continues today. John followed the Olympic wrestling team across the globe beginning in 1984. He served as the team leader in the 1988 and 1996 Olympics with his most cherished memory of participating in the opening ceremonies. John was a recipient of the Order of Merit for the National Wrestling Hall of Fame, and he was also inducted to the Virginia Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Lower Peninsula Hall of Fame.

Additional honors include the Paul Harris Fellow and the Order of the Bullpen. He was a member of the Hampton Roads Assembly, Virginia Seafood Council, Peninsula Sports Club, and he was on the Board of the former First Virginia Bank.

He officially retired in the late 90’s and celebrated by showing up for work the next day. During retirement, he and his partner, Trish Lively, enjoyed traveling extensively. Their most memorable trip was venturing across-country to Alaska.

The foundation of John’s life was built on faith and spending time with family and friends. Each fall, he looked forward to the Poquoson Seafood Festival, working alongside those he loved and celebrating the community’s tradition. He loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, clamming, and boating. He spent countless hours in the bleachers, never missing an opportunity to watch his kids and grandkids compete. Distance was not a factor. If there was an event he was going to be there.

Further details of John's life can be found below.

John is preceded in death by his parents: John Benjamin Graham Sr. and Helen Forrest Graham; and his sister, Gloria Fisher.

He is survived by his three children: Terri Graham Wallace, John B. Graham III (Amy), and Casey N. Graham (Tara); eight grandchildren: Morgan Wallace, Graham Wallace, Alexandra Graham, Chandler Graham, John B. Graham IV, Trent Graham, W. Ross Graham, and Evan Graham; his siblings: Margaret Fluharty, Helene Hogan, Felton Graham (Patti); numerous nieces and nephews; and his loving partner of 21 years, Trish Lively.

The legacy of John’s life will be kept alive by his loving family, friends, and those he touched throughout his life. His family would like to thank Edgeworth Park at New Town and his compassionate nurse, Nina Edwards, with At Home Hospice Care.

A memorial service will be held at Trinity United Methodist Church at 1294 Poquoson Avenue Poquoson, VA on February 1, 2024 at 2:00 PM. A Celebration of Life will be held immediately following the service at the Poquoson Yacht Club, located at 417 Messick Road Poquoson, VA from 3:30 PM-6:30 PM.

The family asks that in lieu of followers, donations can be made to the John B. Graham Memorial Scholarship, managed by the Poquoson Education Foundation. Checks can be mailed to: PEF, P.O. Box 2425, Poquoson, VA 23662

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Born in Messick on July 27, 1934 to John B. Graham and Helen Forrest Graham, over the course of 89 years, he lived life to the fullest! John was a multisport athlete in High School, playing Football, Baseball, Basketball and Track in addition to performing on a tuba for the marching band. He was selected as the Virginia Boys State representative his junior year and served as President of the 1951 senior class. John played on Poquoson’s only undefeated football team back in 1948, although they lost 1 game to Cape Charles. When it was discovered, the team was suited up with men who served our country in WWII and missed out on the high school experience, the game was forfeited to the favor of the bull islanders! Upon Graduation, John, who excelled in the sport, wanted to play more football. He chose to walk on at Virginia Tech, formerly VPI. Within weeks of practice, he quickly realized his time there would be most spent as a blocking dummy with very little game time experience which he so much desired. He decided to notify the coach of his intentions to quit the team. The coach was shocked and touched at the same time saying “son, no one has ever walked into my office to tell me their quitting they usually just leave”. The coach suggested to John to seek out coach Paul Severn at a small school in Ashland VA, Randolph Macon College.

John took the coach’s advice and “hitch hiked” from Blacksburg to Ashland with his bags. Upon arrival, he found the team on the field practicing and approached several coaches, asking “can you use anymore football players” the coach replied, ‘we’ve got to get you enrolled in the college first”. Five years later, losing 1 year due to a concussion suffered while playing, John played on 2 ODAC conference championship teams, was selected as team captain his junior and senior seasons.

From 1951-1955 John played numerous positions both on offense and defense and even served as the extra point kicker. He was recognized as a “Little All American” his senior season as a running back. His most memorable moment happened in 1955, when he kicked the extra point to win the game and conference championship against archrival Hampden Sydney College 7-6 in Ashland. In addition to playing football, John was also a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Boydton society.

In 2015 he was inducted into the RMC Athletic Hall of Fame.

Graduating in 1956 with a Physics and mathematics degree, John was not ready to enter the family seafood business that his grandfather started at Messick Point (Poquoson) in 1942.

He landed a job at NASA, formerly NACA. Over the course of 19 years John had a very expansive and distinguished role in our nation’s budding space program. Working alongside the original seven Astronauts, John held various positions during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo Missions which proved to be instrumental for the historic first man to land on the moon landing which captured the world’s attention in 1969! John, in fact, used his father’s fishing boat, named the Ethel H., to practice the recovery of the space capsule from the waters of Back River. They were simulating splash downs ensuring the capsule was not to sink, especially after the hatch was opened. Amongst his many positions, he was responsible for reconstructing images which were taken from deep space for orbital tracking purposes. Working within a black light room, John pieced together the image of the Earth from behind the moon’s surface taken from a lunar orbiter with pieces of film, kind of like putting a puzzle together. He has the distinguished honor of being the first human ever to view this picture! “Earthrise from the moon” was considered at the time, August 23, 1966, to be “The picture of the Century” and “The Greatest Shot taken since the invention of photography”. The original image is displayed today in the Smithsonian. A copy was gifted from John to his Alma Mater, Randolph -Macon College and is located within the lobby of The Copley Science Building. In 1970, John’s final promotion as it turned out was Missions Operations Manager for the Viking Project to Mars. He never saw this come to fruition as congress reduced the funding for this project pushing in back 3 years.

Over the same time span of his illustrious engineering career at NASA other things were happening outside his busy work schedule. During John’s extensive travels working with NASA, covering 1,000,000 flight miles, he did manage to find some time for fun. On a trip to Fort Lauderdale is where he would find his future wife Sandy. She was a college student on spring break when John came courting. He didn’t sweep her off his feet, he accidently (supposedly) pushed her off a dock into the water! She had already planned and dressed for a date…but not with John! Amongst his trove of skill sets, he was very calculating! After a 2-year courtship they wed in August of 1962 and their first born, Terri arrived in September of 63! His first son, Johnny, came along 18 months later, February 65 and his last son Casey, October 67. 3 children under the age of 5, John and Sandy had their hands full! John was a self-motivated and a driven man who wanted to build a home for his family to share and make wonderful memories. Possessing a skill set that was unlimited, he took on a huge waterfront land development project that would change his and his future family lives forever. He took out his first bank loan and established the Peninsula Land Corporation after he purchased the 63-acre plot of mixed land and marsh connected to Bennetts Creek and White House Cove. Over the course of 7 years, he designed and created an all-waterfront neighborhood which is distinguished amongst others within the Poquoson community. Having leased purchased 3 pieces of equipment from dear friend Ed Williams, John operated a crane, bulldozer, and a road grader to fulfill his dream. His homeplace, which he also built, was the first dwelling in the neighborhood and has been John’s primary residence since 1970. Understand, this accomplishment was done while still working and traveling the world employed full-time with NASA and Sandy home with 3 children under 5! They both truly had their hands full!!

In 1973, John’s father was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and died 3 weeks later leaving the family business future in doubt. Graham & Rollins other principal, John’s uncle Bernard Rollins, also developed cancer and died 2 years later leaving the company with no management.

John was confronted with the biggest decision of his life.

Do I give up, 1 year remaining of tenured retirement along with my distinguished career with NASA, or should I retire and keep the family business moving in hopes that perhaps one of mine might carry the torch forward.

John officially retires from NASA in 1973 to take on what his father had wished for himself, upon graduation from college.

John, having been around seafood his entire life, knew the people and resources needed to begin his pursuit of building his crab meat processing empire. Through his hard work and dedication and thirst to succeed the business started to grow. He brought Sandy’s brother, Jim Casey into the business in the late 70’s to help along with the business expansion. John also put some of his engineering skills and ingenuity to use as he helped to create mechanical crab picking and processing machinery to enhance his production capacity. Some of this equipment is still used within industry today. The height of the business occurred in 1991 when Graham & Rollins processed crab meat from 3 different processing plants and was one of the largest crabmeat processors on the east coast. Currently, the business operates from 2 locations, the original plant located on the waterfront in downtown Hampton, and the restaurant/retail store located just off Interstate 64 on Armistead Ave also in Hampton. John’s 3 children officially retired him in 1995, he celebrated by continually working on and off for 25 more years! He would joyfully share with people who would ask, “I thought you were retired” he replied, “what’s your definition of retirement?” Most respondents were “doing whatever you want” he’d replied, “I am”! His family forever thanks him for his mentoring and free help!

John’s love and passion for family, community and sports were abundant! John was determined to attend anything that his kids and grandkids were involved in. Ball games, dance recitals, wrestling matches, beauty contests, swimming meets, it did not matter when or where the event, he and Sandy were in the bleachers cheering loud and proud! Unlike his father, who never spent much time attending any of his 5 child’s events, (john’s mother never missed one) his time was either at church or at the seafood plant realizing he had to provide for 7. John, saddened, not only for losing his father at an early age, but more so the memories his father never had of any of his children. John, understanding the value and the void he had in his heart from his dad’s inability to attend his children’s events, would never allow such a tragedy to happen again.

Above all the other sports the kids and grandchildren competed in, he loved the sport of wrestling the most. Having never competed in the sport himself, he saw the lifelong values and attributes gained competing in this sport. John’s sons, Johnny, and Casey started wrestling at the ages of 7 and 5 respectfully. Their careers blossomed with hard work and John’s persistent support and encouragement of getting the most out of his sons through their constant effort to improve. John’s efforts paid off as he found both boys undefeated, fought their way to the finals in the state wrestling tournament! Johnny, a senior, lost the final match of his wrestling career, Casey, as a freshman, won his first of 3 titles as well as a runner up finish.

Casey would finish his senior year, with a career record of 119-4-1 and earned a scholarship to Indiana University to wrestle at the next level for the Hoosiers.

Excited from the thrill of his boy’s wrestling careers, the long-standing success of the Poquoson wrestling program and the overabundance of pride and joy the community has for this sport, he had another vision. The Virginia Duals, the first ever team dual wrestling tournament, was created with John’s vision and help from a few others with a passion for this sport. John felt the sport lacked fan-based excitement. The sports tradition recognizes the individual’s accomplishment more so than the teams. The format was created to advance the team on the merits of the team score and not the individual. Whereas the coach now must strategize his lineup with the objective of maximizing his final team score based on the individual wrestler’s outcome.

8 years after the Va Duals inception, the National Wrestling Coaches Association agreed to sanction this event. They felt the format was a great idea for the advancement of the sport. Now, in its 44 years of existence, the tournament is still distinguished amongst all others as one of the best of its kind, showcasing elite high school and collegiate wrestling. This annual weekend tournament, which channels its proceeds through the PWA, Peninsula Wrestling Association, to date, has raised over $1.5 million in helping kids train and compete in world, national and regional wrestling tournaments.

John’s love and passion for the sport took him to another level. In 1988 he was selected by his peers to be team manager of the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team competing in Seoul, Korea. Serving in the same capacity, over the course of 15 years, John participated in Goodwill Games, Pan-Am games, multiple World Cups as well as another Olympics held in Atlanta in 1996.

John is a member of the Virginia’s Lower Peninsula Hall of Fame as well as the Virginia Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

For all his local and international accomplishments and the fame he brought back to the Hampton Roads Area, The Peninsula Sports Club awarded him the prestigious Sports Person of the year award in 1989.

In 2001, The National Wrestling Hall of Fame bestowed him with the “Order of Merit” award as well as bringing him on as a Governing Board member.

John’s faith in God and love of his family was the bedrock of who he truly was a human being. Church and family were one and the same, anything and everything else was secondary. What a wonderful role and influence his parents and grandparents had on his life. Eighty-nine and a half years building a legacy by chasing his dreams with his larger-than-life personality and yet he was a humble man. He was fair, he stuck to his principles, always gave the benefit of doubt, and believed in 2nd chances. He was a fierce competitor and tough as nails once his mind was committed to something his unmatchable work ethic and drive took over. John was extremely generous with his time and his hands-on talents. His true enjoyment in life was giving not receiving.