John Reed Andrews, 62, of Camp Hill, passed away on Monday, June 5, 2017.

John had been on a neighborhood run ("the loop", as he and family called his well-worn route) with his dog, Ziggy, when he collapsed after presumed cardiac arrest. Ziggy remained faithfully by his best friend's side until help arrived.

Born on October 2, 1954 in Pittsburgh, PA, John was the son of the late John F. and Phyllis (Reed) Andrews. He was the oldest of three sisters, Judy, Kathy, and Karen. Reportedly he was a considerate, inclusive older brother who only occasionally practiced his wrestling moves on his sisters. He grew up in a happy, busy house filled with music, especially from musicals and his mother's piano playing.

As a young child, John was mischievous. For example, he pushed a piece of lumber through a stack of windows at construction site in the neighborhood and also caused disruptions at school. His parents decided he would benefit from the more focused education at a private school, Shady Side Academy, and it was there that he developed his love of learning.

In school, John played athletics including cross country and wrestling until he severely broke his leg attempting a pommel horse. Needing something to do with his time while his leg healed, he joined his school's theater group. In his most memorable role, he played a swoon-worthy (according to the young friends of his embarrassed sisters) Prince Charming in a musical production of Cinderella.

Every summer of his childhood involved a trip to Iron City Fishing Club, a rustic social club on the Georgian Bay in Ontario. As a teenager, John worked several summers at the club and could often be seen cruising the bay in his small rowboat. The club was a sacred spot John returned to nearly every year of his life.

John attended Brown University, graduating in 1976 with a BS in chemistry. At Brown, he played intramural ice hockey, took up skiing, and made many lifelong friends. He planned to get his doctorate in chemistry at the University of Chicago, but after one semester he decided that the scene at that school's program was not his. He returned home for a summer, painting houses and taking his sister Karen to the theater and movie cinema to "educate her on the arts", while working out his life's next steps.

One day he walked into the US Navy recruiter's office in Pittsburgh, and shortly thereafter he was headed to Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. He joined the Navy in 1977 as an ensign and ultimately achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander, spending several months traveling the world aboard the USS Charleston. John appreciated that he was continuing a family tradition of military service set by his father, grandfather, and great uncle.

While his naval ship was stationed in Norfolk, VA, John was set up by his friends on a blind date with a young pharmacist named Beth Haer. John and Beth were quickly smitten with each other, even after a first date at piano bar (as a rule, Beth does not sing aloud). They were engaged within months and married on December 30, 1982.

After John's service with the Navy ended, John returned to graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh before accepting a job with the paper company Champion Paper. He worked for many years as a chemical engineer, relocating with his growing family to Columbus, OH, Raleigh, NC, and Cincinnati, OH.

Ultimately, John and his family moved back to Beth's hometown, Camp Hill, to live closer to family, and by this time, they had three children, Alison, Colin, and Noah. John nurtured a love of science and learning in his children by building and launching toy rockets with them, assisting with elaborate science projects, and encouraging playing of early computer spreadsheet games. It is thanks to his influence that his children later received degrees in physics, biomedical engineering then medicine, and biology now soon-to-be nursing.

In Camp Hill, John transitioned into work in real estate and was an involved member of the community. When his children were in school he served as a member and then President of the East Pennsboro School Board. He also volunteered nearly 15 years with the National Ski Patrol at Ski Roundtop. At the age of 60, he embarked on a new career after receiving his RN degree. Up until the time of his death, he had been working as an intermediate care nurse for Select Specialty Hospital in Camp Hill.

John had many athletic pursuits, which he loved to do with his family and friends. Any day spent skiing was a great day, especially when his family was skiing with him. On a powder day, when conditions were just right to float the skis effortlessly across the surface of the snow, he would have a grin frozen on his face and a comment about how the snow was "just like butter". In earlier years, John had also loved whitewater kayaking, and he taught his children at young ages to Eskimo roll (a maneuver to flip the kayak). He had been a regular yet casual runner all his life, yet it wasn't until age 47 that he began running marathons, completing two.

As his son Noah became a soccer player, John came to be a devotee of all things soccer. He acted as team manager for all of Noah's club teams, organizing folders of pictures, statistics, research on opposition, and other documents for all of Noah's teammates. He and Beth were regulars and vocal fans at the games Noah played with his college team, the Elizabethtown Bluejays.

John was curious about an ever widening array of topics and could not help himself from sharing these interests with others. His children moaned that a simple question asked of him could quickly become a thirty minute pontification. A prolific writer, he was constantly writing on news and politics, music, family, and other innumerable interests, interspersed with humorous tangents. He shared these writings in newspaper editorials, the annual family Christmas card letter (which were famously—or infamously—long), his real estate newsletters, personal blogs, and his Facebook page. Since becoming an empty-nester, he would often spend his days off work undertaking mini research projects that would later became essays.

That curiosity also extended to books and music. The streaming music revolution was a wonderful development for him, putting so much diverse music in easy access. He spent many hours developing the world's best playlists for life's upcoming occasions as well as lists of his favorite songs of the year (visit his Spotify profile to access them). On trips to visit to his adult children in Portland and Seattle, he pre-researched the underground music scene, and he took Beth on late nights out on the town to music venues too hip for his children to even know about.

John's overarching life philosophy was to enjoy life in the present. He did that exceedingly well. In his own words, "'Nough said."

John is survived by his wife of 35 years, Beth (Haer) Andrews, of Camp Hill; a daughter, Alison Lucas and her husband Matthew; two sons, Dr. Colin Andrews and his wife Madeleine and Noah Andrews; a grandson, Wade Lucas; two sisters, Judith Douglass and her husband Jay and Karen Greener and her husband Thomas; a sister in-law, Cindy Hyman and her husband Lawrence; and a mother-in-law, Phyllis Haer. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister, Kathryn Andrews.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 A.M. on Saturday, June 10 in the Camp Hill United Methodist Church, 417 S. 22nd St., Camp Hill. A visitation with John's family will be held in the church from 10:00 A.M. until the time of the service.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Union of Concerned Scientists, the Alzheimer's Association, or to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.