*Johnnie Edward Fish* Fall 1942 – 24 October 2019
I regret to report that another one of our caving heroes has passed away, John Fish. I received this text message this evening: “This is Penny Johnson texting from Johnnies phone. Johnnie peacefully passed on to glory last night [24 October 2019] around 9 pm. He was in Kalkaaka area to teach on prayer walking. He was staying at my son's house so wasn't alone. So sorry. Please let anyone know whom he and you both knew please. I will let you know more when we get more information.” John, or Johnnie as some call him, lived in Muskegon, Michigan for years <https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Apt.%201%201930%20Surrey%20Pl%2C%20Muskegon%2C%20MI%2049442%2C%20US&hl=en&authuser=0>, and he has been in touch with old caver friends after a pause of years. He attended a couple of NSS Conventions in recent years. I do no know his exact birth date, but I asked Penny to send me obituary and funeral information. John grew up in Emporia, Kansas, and was raised in the Methodist Church. He completed a BA degree with distinction in physics and mathematics at Kansas State Teachers College in 1964. He studied geology at the University of Texas and was a very active caver there in the 1960s. He explored and mapped many caves in the Sierra de El Abra, Xilitla and Golondrinas areas, and Huautla, Oaxaca. His caving resume, once I write it, will be quite long. He did his PhD dissertation work in the El Abra in the 1970s, finishing in 1977. That became AMCS Bulletin 14, *Karst Hydrology of the Sierra de El Abra, Mexico* (2004). He worked in hydrogeology for years, then he went back to his Christian roots and gave up geology. Further details will be given here on the TexasCavers list, but I thought it might be good to present an excerpt from the first *AMCS Newsletter*, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1965, p. 2. “David McKenzie, Phillip Schiffert, *John Fish*, and Orion Knox left Austin on the night of November 25th [1964]. First they visited Cueva d El Abra, located just north of Antiguo Morelos [Tamaulipas], and then they traveled south to *Sótano del Tigre *[San Luis Potosí], located a few miles NE of Valles. The entrance to the sótano, which is like that of Tinaja, receives the flood waters from a large surrounding area and is a 300 foot vertical drop broken by a ledge 100 feet down. At the bottom of this drop two short passages lead to pits, each about 30 feet deep, which were not descended due to lack of equipment. Next the group went to *Sótano de la Tinaja *and explored what was thought to be the end of the entrance passage. They found a continuation of this passage above a flowstone slope that lead a short distance to an 80 foot drop into a large room or a passage. Lack of equipment prevented further exploration. On the return trip to Austin, *Grutas de Quintero *[Tamaulipas] were visited and first section of the cave mapped. James Reddell, Jim Duke, Dick Smith, Neal Prescott, and Dick Childers accompanied the car with Knox and McKenzie to El Abra and Tigre and then picked up *John Fish* and went to *Sótano del Arroyo *to try and map the water passage. Unfortunately they were turned back by deep water. While at Arroyo they attempted to discover a pre-capture course of the stream that now enters the cave, but no evidence of such a stream bed could be found. On the return trip to Austin the group visited *Grutas de Quintero*.” I hope that old friends will share photos and memories of John Fish with me and here on TexasCavers. Sincerely, *William R. (Bill) Elliott* *[email protected] <[email protected]>* 573-291-5093 cell
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