There are people in our community that from the time you meet them they make a difference. This past week we lost one of them. John Wallace passed away on January 6th. I had the pleasure of working with him in numerous events in the community and before Christmas, I sat down with John to speak with him about his life and some of his experiences.
John explains, “I can honestly say that my whole life has been a vacation. I don’t know how many countries and municipalities there are in the world, but I’ve been to 76 of them. I’ve been all over the world. I have lived in 13 countries and have been to 49 of the 50 states. I was a military attaché in England for three years. I also was a front guy for visiting dignitaries. If the President was coming over for a visit, I was one of the advance team that goes and sets it up for them.”
John was also proud of his Coast Guard work. He graduated from the Coast Guard as an Ensign in 1961 earning an engineering degree, spent twenty years in the guard, and retired as a Captain. The guard took him to England, Argentina, Iceland, and Rio De Janeiro. John says, “I was a structural engineer, so I learned very early in my career, how to maintain and work on communication towers above 100 feet and all the way to 1400 feet. I have climbed farther vertically than almost anybody in the world.”
John tells the story, “In South Dakota, there was a 1400-foot Omega tower, the Navy’s tallest structure and one of the tallest structures in the United States. They needed to have somebody go check out something on the top of the tower. I was in England and they said, “You’re the only one that’s qualified to work on this tower. They flew me all the way from London, took me out to this station, I and climbed this tower.”
He was even invited and went to Russia, “We had a relationship with the Russians, and they flew me over there to climb the towers, on what they call the Southern Cross, which is a system of towers in Russia.”
After his service in the Coast Guard, he was a County Administrator in various counties around the country.
One of John’s favorite activities is helping Santa at Christmas time, “I’m a Santa Claus helper. Santa cannot be everywhere at one time, and he is very, very busy. At Christmas time he has people like me, that go out and be his emissaries.” John trained to be Santa’s helper at Higbee’s Department Store in Cleveland Ohio.
He started out visiting hospitals and later appeared at events in the towns he went during his career. He says, “I go over to the five and dime to get some of my little stuffed Christmas toys and give them out to the kids. I’ve been doing this since I was a young man.”
In addition to his work with Santa, John was in the Clan Wallace Society and proud of his Scottish heritage. He was knighted 3 times in three different countries and by the Knights Templar where he earned the title “Sir John”. He also was a member of the Elks Lodge, was on the Board of the Colleton County Arts Council, and a member of the VFW and the American Legion.
I last spoke to John on New Year’s by text but had the privilege of working with him during the Christmas Season and at other events during the year. It was my privilege to know him and call him friend. Well done “Sir John”. John Wallace will be celebrated with Full Military Honors at the Beaufort National Cemetery.
