John J. Maynard

Mr. John J. Maynard passed away on August 16, 2024. Prior to his passing, he wrote his own obituary detailing his life and his many professional accomplishments. It reads as follows:

I was born in the middle of WWII in Waterbury, Connecticut, the second of five children of Barbara Jayne Lynch and Edward Rosario Menard. I grew up in the Waterville neighborhood and attended a total of five primary and secondary schools. After high school, I attended the University of Connecticut and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the School of Education, majoring in history and political science. After graduation, I substitute taught for a few months before joining John F. Kennedy’s Peace Corps. I spent nearly three years working in Community Development and Education in Alagoas, Brazil.
Due to extensive travel in Brazil and Latin America, I caught wanderlust and decided that the best course to take to do all the travel I wanted was to work for an Airline, and a few months after returning to the States I was hired by Pan American World Airways. In my six years there, I worked in New York City at the Commercial Sales Department but soon transferred to Boston, where I worked in Reservations, Airport Customer Service, and Training. Financial difficulties were beginning for Pan American, and they closed their Boston office and laid all of us off. I was, however, incredibly lucky, as I was hired within a few weeks by Delta Airlines in their Boston Reservations Department. Here, I had the best job in the world. My education degree was used, as for most of my time there I worked in Training. I trained new hires in Customer Service and the Delta computer and reservation expectations. I had the great honor of opening new Delta Reservations offices in Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; Delhi, India; Lima, Peru; and Huntsville, Alabama as well as assisting with training in Hong Kong; Bangkok, Thailand; and Seoul, South Korea.
After opening offices in Asia, I received a promotion to work in Delta’s Consumer Affairs Department in Atlanta, Georgia. For over four years I worked in Delta Executive Offices, both handling complaints by telephone and written letters. I was the expert for international problems and latter for rate problems. While at corporate, my knowledge of Portuguese came in handy as I was sent to both Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Lisbon, Portugal to meet with and assist management of our partners Varig Brazilian Airlines and TAP Portuguese Airlines.
After over four years of commuting every Friday from Atlanta to Boston and every Sunday from Boston back to Atlanta, I accepted a position back in Boston as manager of training and facilitator. I enjoyed working with my trainers and our new hires. During this time, I was the Regional Coordinator for the Delta Care Team, where all were trained to handle working with families in case of an air disaster. On September 02, 1998, a crash occurred in my territory. Swiss Air Flight 111 (one of our partners) crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia. All 215 passengers (including many Delta passengers) and 14 crew members were killed. Since the flight had taken off from JFK-New York, most of the families of the deceased were in the New York area, so I set up a center near JFK to handle the bereaved. We all lived at that hotel without even going outside for 17 days. At the height of the process, I had over 300 Delta Care Team Members assisting the families. It was, perhaps, the hardest thing I ever had to do in my entire life.
Then on September 11, 2001, the whole airline industry changed. Many were given the choice to retire and since my pension would be greater than the salary of my anticipated new position, I decided to retire, even though I was only 58. On paper I may have been retired, but for the next 16 years, I volunteered to work with Delta in Atlanta, either running or directing various charities, including:
-Director of the Over 65 Medical Insurance for Retirees
-A group to help retirees pay their medical premiums
-The political arm of Delta’s retirees group
-A group to help retirees who experienced a disaster
-Coordinator for Delta and the American Red Cross
-Involvement with the social group for Delta retirees (The Delta Pioneers).
When I finally retired for the fifth time, I began to organize and lead groups of Delta retirees on international group tours. In the past 12 years we have enjoyed visits to Myanmar, Turkey, Ireland, the UK, Ecuador, Central Europe, Costa Rica, Japan, China, Morocco, Columbia, Portugal, India, and Peru, plus taken five cruises, including Alaska, Cuba, and the Mediterranean.
I was predeceased by my older brother, Edward “Skip” Maynard, who died early in life, suffering from the return of his service time in Vietnam and alcoholism. I was also predeceased by my life partner, Donald Burke, who passed from cancer after we had spent 39 years together. I am survived by my brother, Robert Maynard (Gail), sister, Cay Maynard, and brother, Steve Maynard (Eileen). My final resting place will be in Waterbury, Connecticut, alongside my mother and some of my siblings.