Obituary of John Clarence Sellers

John Clarence Sellers, age 80, passed away of heart problems on June 5, 2018 in Olympia, WA, his home the last 12 years.  He was born October 2, 1937 to Clarence and Virginia Sellers in Cleveland, OH.  Over the years, he also lived in Avon Lake, OH (1987-2005), Longmont, CO (1982-1985), Brooklyn, OH (1964-1982), Parma and Cleveland, OH (1937-1960).

 

John graduated from Parma High School and attended Otterbein College.  He married Roberta Jean Berg on June 25, 1960 in Brooklyn, OH, just prior to his service in the U.S. Air Force.  They were stationed in Pointe Arena, CA from 1960 to 1964.

 

Professionally, John worked at Storage Technology Corp. in the ‘70s, followed by IBM.  He then worked at the FAA for almost 20 years, writing procedures for the installation of the nationwide Air Traffic Control System.  He also installed the system at the Oberlin, Ohio Traffic Control Center and the Air Traffic Control Office in Auburn, WA.  In addition, John worked briefly for NASA, building the lunar lander.

 

John loved meaningful conversations with anyone, and frequently befriended homeless people and learned their life stories. While working at STC, he participated in a program where he interviewed people released from prison to help them find jobs and a new start in life in the computer industry.

 

John is survived by his wife, Roberta J. Sellers; daughters, Lori Garnes and Kim Sellers; three grandchildren; brothers Glenn Sellers and Dale Sellers; and sisters, Rita Nye and Barbara Zeuch.

 

No services are planned.

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