John Joseph Cody (known at Curlew Job Corps often as Cody and by family lovingly as John Boy) was born March 23, 1939, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Washington to John "Jack" Colfax Cody and Jane Winifred (Kenney) Cody. John's father "Jack" and his grandparents John and Isabella "Belle" (Craig) Cody came to Ferry County, Washington in the late 1800's. They settled in the Keller area. The Cody family were miners and ranchers and Grandfather John Cody was appointed 1st Sheriff of Lincoln County.

Later, John's father moved to Republic and became Ferry County Auditor and Republic's Postmaster. When John was only two years old, his father passed away. His mother Jane Cody was then appointed to replace her husband as Republic's Postmaster, an office she held for over 25 years. John's maternal grandparents were Joseph Patrick and Mary Bridget (Coogan) Kenney; they also came to the area in the late 1800's. Grandpa Joe was a miner and a freighter. Paddle wheelers brought freight up the Okanogan River to Riverside and Grandpa Joe drove a wagon hauling the freight on up to Republic. Grandma Mary B ran away from home at the age of 14 and joined a wagon train bound for Republic. When she arrived in Republic she became the chore girl at the Creaser Hotel on the hill above Republic. In 1903, at the age of 16, Mary B married 31 year-old Joe Kenney.

In the 1930's the Creaser Hotel where John's grandmother had once worked had been remodeled into a residence. John's mother purchased it when it came up for sale for back taxes. John was raised by his mother Jane and his grandmother, Mary B in that lovely old house on the hill overlooking Republic and the surrounding mountains. Republic was a good place to grow up, both in their loving home and in the hills and mountains of Ferry County. John had wonderful times roaming those hills with his coyote-collie dog Chub and fishing the lakes and creeks and biking around Curlew Lake. In the winter, John loved sledding and skiing on Creaser Hill with the aid of a rope tow near Mud Lake. Many wonderful times were had warming up around bonfires while ice skating on the lake.

John graduated from Republic High School in 1957. He played baseball and basketball for Republic and played trombone in the band. John attended Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, and worked for the US Forest Service in Republic during the summers. In 1962, John was drafted into the Army. He trained as a medic at Fort Sam Houston and later was stationed with the 71st Evacuation Hospital Unit based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. This was the home of the101st Airborne Division. John said he sure treated a lot of paratrooper broken bones. Having hunted all of his growing up years, John easily earned the Sharpshooter Medal.

In 1964, John's tour of duty with the Army was finished and he returned to Republic and resumed his job working for the US Forest Service. In 1965, the Job Corps program was formed, and John was offered a transfer to work with the newly formed Job Corps program at Curlew. He joined several other adventurous people, and they went for training to Tillamook, Oregon, then returned to renovate the old Curlew Air Base. It had been an early warning radar air base in 1953 and closed in 1965. It was a struggle to get the old base ready for students and John's first task was running the cows out of the old dining hall. They should have written down more stories of the creation of the Curlew Job Corps Center program. The first students were from cities on the east coast and would have felt very uprooted, so it was a challenge to keep them engaged and to teach them new skills. There weren't many staff members in the early days so those few instructors took turns sleeping in the dorms to monitor the students.

John's first position was Forestry Aid Instructor which included teaching timber management as well as training and supervising a fire crew. His first and best care was always for the students and fire fighting with them was his special challenge. Something he often said when speaking of challenges met and survived was "and nobody got hurt." (I don't think he got it from John Wayne, but maybe.) He was proud of his crews and the great rating they often received for a job well done. When age kept him from going with them, he was on call 24/7 during fire season to dispatch the Job Corps crew when called for. It was important for the students to get every opportunity to go out on a fire.

As years went by his instructor positions also included heavy equipment and construction. While John was one of three construction/heavy equipment instructors, there were two projects Curlew Job Corps was given that John especially enjoyed and referred back to throughout his life. Both were the building of two campgrounds for the US Forest Service. One was Canyon Creek Camp located on the east side of Sherman Pass on the banks of Canyon Creek. (The students at this time were also engaged in building part of Kelly Mountain Road which went past the campground.) Canyon Creek Camp was built during the early years of Job Corps during the late 60's and 70's. For this project they used a "spike camp." John and Glen Gregor, the other instructor, took their crews on Monday and worked on the project through the week and returned the students to the center on Friday. John especially enjoyed these times and had many stories to share. One was about the resident bear they called Oscar. Oscar probably predated Smoky Bear! Oscar liked to wander around in the night checking everything out. He rubbed on the tents, terrorizing the students and in the daytime he held up work and sent the students scurrying every time he claimed his prolific huckleberry patch. The other favorite project was the forming of Beth Lake and its campground. It is located in the Beaver Canyon area of Okanogan County, on a dirt road and had two lakes: Upper Beaver and Lower Beaver. The other training instructor at this time was Dude Thiele. The students and instructors put in an earthen dam at the end of Upper Beaver and made Beth Lake. They built two boat launches and constructed a convenient campground with a water system, toilets, tables and campfire pits. They also built a bridge and put a trail around the lake. This was one of John's favorite fishing spots.

In later years Cody held office positions, first working as Assistant WPO (Work Program Officer), as assistant to the managing officer who at the time was Irv Holsinger. His main job then was counseling the new Corpsmen in choosing their trade and balancing the numbers in the trades. Curlew Job Corp had several choices for the students to choose from and it was a challenge to fit them to what could become their lifetime occupation. In 2005, John became the WPO and much of his duties included supervising the Training Instructors. He enjoyed this experience also and was proud of the people he worked with because they cared for the students they worked with and were professional. Many have counted John as a favorite boss. They would say "he listens and he follows up."

John and his wife, Deanna lived on the Curlew Job Corps campus until April 2009 when he retired. Counting his time in the Army and working for the US Forest Service and Job Corps, John retired with 49 years of service. It was a record of time served and there is a rock with his name and dates of his service beside the office entrance.

On a dark, cold snowy January, 1968, night, John parked his beautiful, spotless, white 1965 Pontiac Catalina in a precarious position behind Deanna Daniels' red 1964 Rambler American. When leaving work at Dr. Thornton's/Stevenson's office at 11pm, very tired and bleary-eyed, Deanna didn't know who's car it was and thought by backing carefully she had missed it. The next day she learned that she had put a thin red stripe down John's immaculate white car, but he said it would be okay if she would "have him over for a steak dinner." That was the beginning of their adventure and on October 6, 1973, John and Deanna were married in Kingston, Washington.

After retirement from the Job Corps, John and Deanna moved into a lakeside cabin on Curlew Lake next door to his longtime friend, fishing and hunting partner, George Walden and wife Aida. John loved his boats and he and Deanna spent many hours fishing on Curlew Lake and biking, walking and skiing on the nearby Rail Trail. Two highlights in early retirement were a wonderful cruise to Alaska with John's childhood friend/brother, Gary Kelly and wife Nancy and a fun car trip with George and Aida Walden to Tennessee and cruising Route 66. In John's later years he developed dementia, but he retained much of his dear personality and some of his favorite sayings have been "I love John Cody and John Cody loves a lot of people," We're doing pretty good, aren't we?" and randomly he would say "and nobody got hurt." John never lost his wink and when words would not come there could be a wink.

Much love and thankfulness to those who thoughtfully picked him up with his one-speed bike when he went too far and they knew he needed to be brought home. John was cared for at home by Deanna until it became necessary for him to go to a care home in Wenatchee during August of 2022. Deanna and John's nieces, Lauri and Gayla were at his side when John peacefully passed away at the age of 83 on November 2, 2022, in Wenatchee, Washington at Char's Adult Family Care Home.

John is preceded in death by his parents; grandparents; half-brothers Lowery Cody, Craig Cody, and Robert Cody; and his nephew James W. Cody of Lake Forest, California. John is survived by his wife Deanna Cody of Republic and the nieces and nephews from her side which include Lauri and her husband David Jorgensen of Yakima; Gayla Massey of Republic and Steve Daniel and his wife Pam of Hillsboro, OR. He is survived by nephews and nieces on his side, the children of his half brothers, Lowery and Craig Cody. They include John C. Cody, Bend, OR; Robert L. Cody, Olympia, WA; Susan Cody Volkmann, Clarksville, TN; Mellissa Cody Hillman, Boring, OR; and Christine Cody, Portland, OR.

The family is thankful for the wonderful care shown by many who lovingly helped John and Deanna throughout the years.

There will be a memorial service for John Cody at the Civic Center in Curlew, WA, on April 1, 2023 at 1pm. Memorial gifts may be given to Rail Trail Partners, Ferry County Emergency, Ferry County Historical Society or the Volunteer Fire Department.