John Aaron Batchelor, Jr.

John Aaron Batchelor Jr. was born in the summer of 1937 in upstate New York.  The Great Depression was underway in his town of Oswego on the shores of Lake Ontario.  John Sr. was working as an engraver at the paper mill and Ida Sofia Scharf Batchelor held her first born like a treasure while their photo was snapped in the backyard of their Ellen Street house.  Sisters Nancy and Ruth came along soon and Grandma Margaret and Grandpa Harry Batchelor and Grandma Scharf Keene lived near on Tallman and Miller Streets, Uncle Buddy and Aunt Isabelle and many more…a tight-knit extended family all around.

Along with the Depression, another event came to the Batchelor family.  While my father was a boy of 7, exploring the neighborhood between his house and the river just a block away, a driver veered off the road, struck, and gravely injured him. The next many months were filled with surgeries and attempted repairs to his left arm and 1944 versions of rehabilitation…my grandmother Ida Sofia insisting my father re-learn and do everything every other 8-year-old did …with only one hand.  Tie his shoes.  One hand.  Button his shirt.  One hand.  Ida and John Jr., joined in the mission for a normal life.  Sister Nancy remembers crying to help her brother and Ida standing firm for independence.

The accident wasn’t the only huge change for the family.  That Depression kept rolling too, pushing the family southward along with John Sr.’s employer to Cantonment, Florida.  That first day of school was eye-opening for 10-year-old John.  Classmates without shoes. Years along at Tate High School in Latin class, there was another who caught John’s eye, the red-haired girl in the 10th grade when John was in the 11th.

Alabama Polytechnic, now Auburn University, was the next stop, Dad a physics major though he admitted later in life to being more of a word-guy than numbers, the first of his family to attend college.  He and the red-haired girl, Zetta Iris Raines married in 1958 and continued their schooling, beans and franks and happy married life putting on the pounds.  Then, with the first baby, David, on the hip, the couple moved out of their tiny student apartment on Glenn Avenue in Auburn to Loachapoka, taking up life in a one-of-kind, stone-and-concrete farmhouse on 7 acres of pecans and apples, chestnuts, pears and figs.  Detailed farming notes, huge vegetable gardens and preserving, fruit drying, cider pressing, breast-feeding, tree grafting, essentially John and Iris were moving with the times, hippies without the long hair.  More children were born, three daughters, Laurie and Betsy and Kerry and the first fostered-then-adopted brothers, Chris and Johnny arrived in 1972.  Casey and Charlie came in 1983, and Neil and Marie a year later.  Many, many more were welcomed to the Loachapoka home place, fed and sheltered, schooled and celebrated, loved.

There could not have been a kinder, better father. Rarely upset, patient and measured, steady in his love and care.  Hotcakes made and dished out every Saturday morning while our mother slept.  The huge, sprawling family piled into the van du jour to be churched 3 times a week, transported to family visits in Dallas, Texas and vacations on the Gulf coast.  After Thursday night services, swimming in the University pool followed by ice cream cones at the SaniFreeze on Glenn. 

Dad’s life, from recent study of all the photos, was filled with joy and family and love and he lived it steadfastly, reliably there for those who needed him.

John, now with two working arms, is again with his beloved Iris.

John is survived by his 10 children David (Jennifer) Batchelor, Laurie (Mike) Paulonis, Betsy (John McLean) Rush, Kerry (Jay) Weldon, Christopher Batchelor, Johnny Batchelor, Casey Batchelor, Charles (Jennifer) Batchelor, Neil Batchelor and Marie Batchelor; 15 grandchildren: Miranda and Jaycee Batchelor, Andrew Paulonis, Madeleine and Jasper Rush, McKinley (Rebecca) and Anna Grace Weldon, Travis and Nathan Batchelor, Wyatt Batchelor, Blake Batchelor, Jaylen and Carmen Batchelor, Aquila and Olivia Warner. John’s grandson Matthew Weldon will be greeting him in heaven’s house.

The family will hold a wake Friday, April 12, from 3:00-9:00 PM CSTat John’s house located in Loachapoka at 80 Pecan Circle, Auburn, AL 36832. A Visitation will be held Saturday, April 13, 2024 beginning at 10:00 AM, located at the Auburn Church of Christ, 712 South College Street Auburn, AL 36830. A service will follow, beginning at 11:00 AM. John will be laid to rest in the Loachapoka City Cemetery at 3:00 PM CST.