John Maxwell Renwick

active childhood in nearby Athol. His father would not allow him to play indoor sports so he

gravitated towards baseball and hockey, but his first love was skiing. Throughout his life he told

fond stories of skiing nearby Mt. Grace.

After high school he attended the Coyne Electrical School of Boston then set out west towards

the big mountains of Wyoming. After working as an electrician for small businesses in Nebraska

and back in Athol for a short period, he joined the Navy with the ambition of becoming a

Submariner. He first trained and served as an Interior Communications electrician (IC) on the

diesel powered submarine USS Tusk. In 1953 he married childhood friend Priscilla May Clark

who worked as a flight attendant and would visit him on his early stops in the Navy. They were

married until 1966 and had two sons together. They maintained a friendship throughout his life.

In 1955 they traveled to Idaho Falls, Idaho where he attended the Navy’s newly formed Nuclear

Operators Training Program. His performance there earned him the opportunity to be one of the

initial instructors at the first formal Nuclear Power School established in New London,

Connecticut. He then joined the crew of USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear powered

submarine. The leadership of the Nautilus was so impressed with his performance, they

recommended and pushed through his commissioning as a Naval Officer. He continued on to

serve thirty four years in the Navy, including acting as the commanding officer of several

submarines, and later transitioning into a higher level leadership position helping the

governments of Colombia and Iran build submarine Navies of their own. The reason behind his

success as a career Navy officer was apparent even into his last visits to Balboa Navy Medical

Center where he would ask every enlisted staffer about their history in the Navy and showed

great concern for their career success.

In 1967 he married Kathryn Lucille DeSwarte who swept him off his feet at a local pub in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin by approaching him and asking about the dolphin patches on his uniform.

They traveled the world together making stops in Hawaii, Colombia, Iran, San Diego, Honduras,

and Paraguay. They had two sons. In the early 1980s they retired to San Diego, California for

the “tennis weather” both being avid players. He attended the Toyota Automotive Technology

Program at San Diego City Community College where he also played doubles on the tennis

team. In 1987 he achieved one of his great successes in life overcoming alcohol addiction,

saving his marriage and his family.

John and Kate spent the last part of their life together traveling the country in an RV and

spending many summers living on the campground at Vandenberg, AFB in beautiful relative

wilderness along the Central Californian coast. They shared a love of the outdoors and

mountains and were avid hikers into their seventies. He remained fit and active up until the end

of his life, doing countless laps around the Sea Colony neighborhood, becoming a fixture of the

community. The passing of his wife broke his heart and his life was never the same. He took his

last breaths on February 14th 2020, a year after her passing. He is survived by his four sons, six

grandsons, four granddaughters, and one great granddaughter.

A funeral service will be held at St. Charles Borromeo Church in San Diego, CA