John Bush Sr.

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Biography

John R Bush grew up one of 4 children and the middle son of Thomas and Nancy Bush. He lived in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, graduating from Roanoke Rapids High School, and attended Rosemary Baptist Church. Then he went to college at Mars Hill where he met his first wife, Bonnie Jean Brookshire. John was drafted into the Army in 1954 and was stationed in Germany, missing the birth of his son, John Roger Bush, Jr. His wife and son joined him in Germany where his daughter, Tina Marie, was born in 1956. The family returned stateside and lived off base in Ft Benning, GA for the remainder of John's service with the Army. From there they moved to Asheville, NC, then to Greenville, SC. While in SC, John worked nights at Judson Mills and attended Furman University, studying for the ministry. This proved to be too difficult with a wife and children and he changed career paths. He sold life insurance for a while and managed a shoe store... then, somewhere around 1960-61 John and Bonnie divorced. (As Bonnie said she was not content and thought they were not compatible. She said that he did nothing wrong.) John moved to Durham, NC and was an assistant manager of an H L Greens store, where he met his second wife, Evelyn Ruth Powell. They were married July 5, 1964. John and Evelyn moved to the Washington DC area where he worked as manager or assistant manager at various stores. They lived in Chevy Chase MD, Falls Church VA and Manasas, VA among other locations before moving back to Durham, NC. There John worked for the Durham Dairy driving a milk route and drove a bread route for a local bread company and was manager/assistant manager of a Kroger store in Cary, NC... But, John found his happiness working at the Durham Exchange with handicapped clients in a greenhouse, growing Christmas Cactus, Poinsettias, and various potted plants. He retired from Durham Exchange and lived a peaceful life with Evelyn until he died January 22, 2004.

Sources

• Death Certificate