John Gilmore Backus

John Gilmore Backus, 84, a former resident of Winona, died peacefully at his home in Seattle, Wash., on Friday, March 28, 2020.
John was born on October 27, 1935, in Watertown, S.D., the son of Swedish and Luxembourgish immigrants. His family moved to Winona in the 1940s. He graduated from Winona High School in 1953, attended Winona State College and made a two-year hiatus to work as a fireman for the Great Northern Railroad in Whitefish, Mont. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1959 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and, wanting to travel abroad, enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in Tokyo and Seoul. In Japan he was able to pursue his interests in Judo and Karate, earning a black-belt. In 1962 he was discharged and spent a year in Honolulu, Hawaii, working primarily for Beneficial Standard Life, while actively working on a plan to move back to Asia. In 1963 he was selected to work in the Office of Civilian Personnel for the U.S. Army in Seoul. He married a Korean portrait artist, Kim Yun-Hee ("Kim"), in 1965.
He was a noted marksman scoring in the top divisions of U.S. 8th Army pistol competitions, an avid pheasant hunter and founding member of the Rod & Gun Club in Seoul, Korea. He had a lifelong interest in hiking and mountaineering expeditions, visiting remote regions in China and was a member of Seattle's Mountaineers Club. In addition to these interests, John loved billiards and fly fishing, and was expert at both and was affectionately known as "Coach" amongst his closest friends.
He finally retired in 2003, as a Civilian Personnel Director for Command Headquarters, U.S. 8th Army in Seoul, Korea. He moved back to Seattle in the Beacon Hill neighborhood and lived with his wife Kim until his passing.
The son of LeRoy "Roy" Reyland and Violet Genevieve (Johnson) Backus, John is survived by his two sons, Bill of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Jack of Oakland, Calif.; three grandchildren, Cosette, Renzo and Genevieve; and by three sisters, Helen Aram, Palos Verdes, Calif., Karen Hastings, Winona, Minn., and Jean Roemer, Winona, Minn.; and one brother, Jim Backus, St. Paul, Minn. His oldest sister, Janet Ann Herman, is deceased.