Lorin Eugene St. John, loving husband and father, passed away and entered fully into the presence of his Lord and Savior on Tuesday, March 26, 2019.  He was 81.  Lorin was born on July 13, 1937 in Ontario, Oregon to Edward and Elizabeth (Krack) St. John.  He grew up here in the Tri-Cities, where as a boy he was a paper boy delivering the local Tri-City Herald newspaper and in high school he worked as a dishwasher for the Richland Bakery.   He was a 1955 graduate of Columbia High School (Richland High School).  After graduating high school, Lorin joined the Navy where he served 4 years as a radio navigator on the VP-44 patrol squadron before being honorably discharged in 1959. He moved to Seattle in 1960 to work for the Boeing Company as an aerospace technician.  He started at Boeing East Field, then the Minuteman Project in North Dakota and finally ended up at the Renton Benaroya plant where he worked until retirement.  He met the love of his life, Phyllis Graves, at Beverly Park Baptist Church (Seattle, WA), and they were married there on July 12, 1974.  Lorin was active in his church, where he served as deacon intermittently and served as church treasurer for 24 years. In August of 1999, he retired from Boeing and in 2000, Lorin and Phyllis moved to Surprise, AZ where they lived for 6 years and were active participants in a church plant.  In 2006, they moved back home to Washington State and settled in the Tri-Cities where Lorin spent many hours devoted to his passion of documenting the local area high schools Boys’ Basketball and Football stats-a hobby that he has had since boyhood .  To many of his friends and former classmates, he was considered his alma mater’s #1 historian.  He was a proud Richland Bomber graduate.  GO BOMBERS!!

Lorin loved the Lord and never doubted that death was not the end of his story. Lorin held fast to Jesus’s promise in John 11:25-26: “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.  And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” 

Lorin was preceded in death by his father, Edward and his mother, Elizabeth, and half-brothers Edward and Duane St. John.  He is survived by his wife Phyllis of 44 years and his three children, Gloria, Eric, and Kelly St. John, his brothers Cliff (Barbara) St. John, and Keith St. John, two grandchildren, Carter and Harper St. John, and many nieces and nephews. 

Family, friends and others whose lives Lorin touched are invited to a memorial service at Kennewick Baptist Church, 2425 W Albany Ave, Kennewick, WA  99336 on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 2:00 pm to celebrate Lorin’s life.  In lieu of flowers, friends and family can make a memorial contribution to the National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org/donation.