John Colburn has passed:

I had an email his afternoon from Al Beatty to that effect, no details yet. John lived at the Old Soldiers Home in DC, and was VERY active with the Wounded Warriors, I believe John set up the fly tying program for Walter Reed hospital rehab which became the model for the rest of the programs across the country. We worked with John on getting donations from manufacturers to get the program rolling. (ALL of them were happy to help.) John was also one of the invited tiers at the big tying exhibition held in Eugene, Oregon each spring.
He was a Director at Large for the FFF representing the Mid-Atlantic Council as well as the Editor of the Mid-Atlantic Flyfisher. I know John was also a veteran.
I am proud to have known John, he was as avid about teaching and getting youngsters involved in fly fishing as he was in any part of our sport. I'm honored to be a friend, I sure will miss him.
If you have any other details please post them here.
LF

Sorry to hear that. I can't say that I knew him but I certainly offer my condolences to his family and friends.

Steve

I've lost two of my original mentors in adaptive fly fishing and fly tying in the past 3 weeks. First Al Crise, and now John Colburn. Both men approached hero status to me. And with over 30 years in the Army, retiring as a Chief Warrant Officer, John Colburn fully qualified. When I first volunteered to get involved with Project Healing Waters, I contacted the national office in DC by email and it was John who responded to my email. In those days, they referred to him as a co-founder of PHWFF alongside Ed Nicholson. In fact, John's tying program through the Orthopedics Dept at Walter Reed was up and running well before Ed got involved.

John and I talked frequently via phone and email until very recently when he became so ill that he went home to Illinois to be close to family. He spent over 2 decades living in El Paso and Las Cruces and was one of the small group of drivers behind the establishment of the Franklin Mountains State Park, which bisects El Paso with one of the most significant and impressive feats of wildlife and historical preservation of the past 30 years. John also founded the Boy Scouts of America Troupe Number 001 here in El Paso, Texas. His legacy here is huge! I'm surprised he doesn't have a street or public building named after him already.

Some folks thought John's persona was too unpolished...even "rough"...for pleasant company. I've heard complaints and disparagements from a few people who served on boards with him within the FFF and PHWFF. But John was an old warhorse who came up through the ranks of the old Army of the era of the Korean and Vietnam Wars. A man doesn't spend 30 years serving his country avoiding the best efforts of the professional killers of our nation's enemies, riding herd on draftees, drawing substandard pay and benefits, losing friends and loved ones frequently along the way without developing some calouses and a different set of priorities than your typical member of the local garden club in modern suburbia. John's world was very real, very genuine, and he was keenly aware from a young age that wasted time was one of life's greatest tragedies. So was he blunt? Yes. Could he be a bit course at times? Sure. But if we are to judge men by the fruit they bear...by their deeds and contributions the their fellow man...then John was truly among the best of us. And anyone should have felt honored and lucky to serve with, work alongside, or even just hang out with John.

If more people in this world just TRIED to be like John Colburn and Al Crise the world would be a far better place than it is. But as the Crash Test Dummies' lyrics to "Superman" go:

"Superman never made any money savin' the world from Solomon Grundy.
And sometimes I despair the world will never see another man...like him.

Sometimes I despair the world will never see another man...like him."

Fly Guy,
I did not have the pleasure ( "pleasure" deduced from your wonderful eulogy) of ever knowing John Colburn, but I'm sure that somehow he touched me by his contributions to fly fishing. My sincerest condolences to his family and to those who had the honor of calling him friend.

Mark