Post by Rodney Trent Briles on Dec 18, 2015 22:00:47 GMT -5
I received an email regarding the death of John Michael Briles. Below is his death notice. He is not a Briles. His father is Joseph Anthony Hiss and his mother is Keitha Louise "Pat" O'Brien. Pat left her husband Joe, then hooked up with Lorain Orlan "Lorin & Bud" Briles in 1946. It appears John assumed the Briles name at age 3, but knew his father was Hiss. Please adjust your databases accordingly.
John Michael Briles Hiss (birth name is Hiss, not Briles) passed away in peaceful slumber on Monday night at 11:06 p.m. on October 5, 2015, at the VA Hospital in Prescott, AZ, surrounded by his best friend, Dan Zellmer, and his family, when the Lord called him into His eternal care. He had been making his home with his son, John "JB" Briles, beside the golf course in Kingman, Arizona.
Johnny was a baby in Redondo Beach, California, when his mother left his father. Bud Briles was the only father John knew and loved until he applied for his driver's license in Page and learned about his biological father, Joe Hiss, who he visited before Joe died.
Johnny graduated from Page High School in 1961, voted as the "Wittiest Senior Boy". He moved to Page with his mother and stepfather, Pat & Bud Briles, and their children, his siblings, Lorin '65, Danny '69, Rob '74, and Kathy Briles '76.
He joined the Army after graduation in 1961 with Bob Patterson '61, on the "Buddy" Program, but they didn't see much of each other after the cute picture was taken of them together in their Army Bermuda Shorts shortly after induction. (I haven't been able to find that picture...)
The Summer of 1960, on the way home to Page, Arizona from Flagstaff where they had all attended a Babbitt's company picnic, John kept his Guardian Angels busy saving his life and the lives of his classmates, Mary Kay Lundblade '63, Rick Parsons '61, Mike Stickler '61, Jeanne Roberson '62 (who was critically injured but survived), and the future husband of Judy McDonald '62 -- Cecil Mowbray (the driver of the car), when Cecil's car, at a high rate of speed, hit an oil slick during a light rain and flew off the road, hitting a tree which was sheared off by the impact. Rick Parsons and Mike Stickler were in the front seat; Johnny was in the back seat with Mary Kay and Jeanne Roberson. Johnny broke his left arm in the accident.
After returning from the Army, he spent most of his remaining life in Arizona, where he quickly was given the nickname, "Hollywood", due to his good looks, charm and dancing skills. He easily could sweep anyone off their feet with his kind heart and great wit.
John always excelled in all sports including golf, bowling and Prescott Senior Softball.
John had received a miracle operation from the Lord that saved his life some years ago, and he made it a point to share his testimony from the podium in his brother, Pastor Danny Briles', Assembly of God Church and with anyone else, one-on-one, who would listen to make sure God got all the glory. He had been praying for his miracle, so when the surgeon was having him wheeled in for the operation, he asked John what influential person (on earth) he knew to get this expensive operation approved by the Veterans Administration. Johnny said, "I went a little Higher Up than that!"
His sister, Lindia, said, "John always told me that he ran on 'Irish Time'. LOL! He would say, 'I will call you tomorrow,' then I wouldn't hear a word for a week. In fact, when he flew into Midland, MI, for our first meeting, we were at the airport to meet him, and I fully expected him to have missed the plane. He was the last one to get off and had on a bright pink shirt. I couldn't have missed him. LOL! I think he had told everyone on the plane where he was headed and why! That is a day that I will remember forever! He was certainly one of a kind, and knowing him changed my life forever."
John was survived by his beloved Saundra of 28 years; his three sons with Karyn: Joseph "Joey", John "JB" & Joshua "Josh" Briles, (and their maternal step-brother, Shawn Savage); his "adopted" (from age 2-4) daughter by Saundra & Cullen: Priscilla Carmody of whom John said many times, "This is the daughter I wish I would have had"; "Grampy's" grandchildren: Joey's Jade (adopted from India), Chance and Jackson; JB's Justin, Summer, and Spencer; and Josh's Kynslee and Kyndee, plus two with his first wife; John's older sister, Lindia (Hiss) Hudgins '58 of Doniphan, MO (John and Lindia had been separated for 46 years, but were reunited in Michigan in 1992); his half-siblings (who never knew John as anything but their "full" brother, especially since they were raised together): Pastor Danny Briles '69 of Kingman and Robert "Rob" Briles '73 of Chino Valley, Arizona; and many nieces and nephews who loved him dearly.
He was predeceased by his parents, Keitha "Pat" (O'Brien) Briles & Joe Hiss; step-parents, Dad Lorin "Bud" Briles & Loretta Hiss; his sister, Joanne Marie Hiss; his half-brother, Lorin Briles '65, and his half-sister, Kathy Briles '76.
