John N. Farmer ’52

John had a childhood quite unlike any of the rest of us. Born to English missionary parents in India, he began school in England but left in 1939 for Burma, where he lived with his parents until World War II, when he escaped to India. In 1945 he came to the United States and enrolled at the Kiskiminetas (Pa.) School, from which he entered our class. At Princeton he played freshman soccer and joined the Presbyterian Club before leaving at the end of freshman year.

At the College of Wooster, he majored in zoology — his lifelong preoccupation and subject of his teaching for 19 years at the University of Missouri and then for 20 years at the University of Oklahoma, where he was chair of the zoology department. Before earning a Ph.D. he was drafted into the Army and earned U.S. citizenship.

John died July 13, 2016. He is survived by his wife, Margaret; and three children, Johann, Steve, and Susan. To them the class sends condolences and appreciation for their father’s military service.