John was a friend of Tom and a fellow pilot, in training to fly the P-61.

At the wedding of Tom and Zoe in 1944, John “gave away” the bride. He was the first dinner guest with the newlyweds.

After training, John was sent to the Philippines where he flew the P-61 in the final months of the war.

John lived to age 87. His activities were outlined in his obituary^[1]drawn from the Spokesman-Review, Nov. 19 to Nov. 20, 2010

A very longtime resident and businessman in
Deer Park, Washington.

John Edwin Erickson passed away peacefully in his sleep, at the age of 87, on October 31, 2010, at an Alzheimer’s care facility near Portland, OR. John was born August 26, 1923 in a one-room cabin just west of Deer Park, the town where he lived nearly all his life. John graduated from Deer Park High School in 1940 and enlisted in the U.S. Army at the age of 19. During WWII John served two years as a pilot on active duty and was stationed overseas in the Philippines where he piloted a unique and specialized airplane called the P-61, Black Widow; an all black, double fuselage plane that was America’s first night-fighter and America’s first plane designed to use radar. After the war, John returned home to Deer Park where he was a self-employed driller of water wells. In 1948, he married local resident Kathryn Lea Fisher with whom he raised three children. John worked in the 1950s-60s at the Deer Park Lumber Mill until it closed in the early 1970s. He was foreman of the Pres-to-Log department. During his days at the mill, John worked nights and weekends as a real estate salesman for local attorney, O. G. Follevag, before eventually starting his own full-time real estate business called “Erick’s Realty.” John ran and expanded Erick’s Realty until the business was sold around the time of his retirement in the 1980s. John loved the Deer Park community and was a strong supporter of local events, including membership in the 1950s local Jaycees and attendance at city council meetings throughout his lifetime. John and Katy were longtime members of Open Door Congregational Church. John is predeceased by his wife, Kathryn Lea “Katy” Erickson; by his parents, Carl Alfred Erickson and Inga Louise Erickson (buried in the local Zion Hill “Trysil” Cemetery), and by an older brother, James Paul Erickson who passed earlier this year. John is survived by his three children…and 10 grandchildren.