John Champion Gallagher, of Quincy, California, passed away in the early morning hours of Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025, at Plumas District Hospital. He was born May 24,1934, to Bernard and Julia Champion Gallagher in San Jose, California. John attended Frank C. Havens School in Piedmont, joined the Cub Scouts, and then Boy Scout Troop 3, earning his Eagle Scout Badge in May, 1950. John played football at Piedmont High School, graduating in the Class of 1952.
After two years at the University of California, Berkely, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. John attended the Artillery Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, was commissioned a second lieutenant and sent to Germany. In Europe, in 1956, he first coached the 35th Field Artillery Group, “Crimson Wave” football team to a successful 12-1 season. Then, in 1957, he was tabbed by the group commander to become one of the first forward assembly officers, putting together the newly arrived W-33 Nuclear 8 Inch Howitzer Round, which became the backbone, until 1993, of the U.S. tactical nuclear deterrent during the Cold War.
Following his honorable discharge from the Army, John continued his higher education and received his bachelor’s degree from San Jose State, and his master’s degree from Stanford University, where he was the president of the education council and represented all graduate students in the Stanford Legislature. While at Stanford, John was elected to the Evergreen School District Board of Trustees in San Jose, where he served as chairman.
John then coached football for two years at the high school level in Hillsdale, San Mateo, where he developed a lifelong friendship with Dick Vermeil. John coached football at Foothill College and Oakland City College, later called Merritt College, where, in the later 1960s, he coached an incredibly talented mix of foreign and American athletes on the Merritt College Thunderbird Soccer Team for two undefeated seasons. Many of these athletes went on to star at Division One universities.
In 1970, John moved north to the newly opened Feather River College, in Quincy, where he developed and articulated the transfer degree program in High Adventure Recreation Leadership, known today as the Outdoor Recreation Leadership Program.
John and Betty fell in love and married at a ranch ceremony in 1988 in Sierra Valley. For 37 years they were each other’s constant adventure companions, sharing a love for all things outdoors. John never stopped spoiling Betty with special chocolate treats and gourmet camping meals.
Because of his wilderness experience and writings on the outdoors in several national publications, John was encouraged to run for and was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association for Search and Rescue, where he served for eight years.
One of the highlights of his life was the opportunity to serve in the field as the support person for his wife Betty and her California Rescue Dog Association search dog, Champion, an acknowledged excellent resource for wilderness, avalanche, and water search and rescue in the mountains, deserts and back country in the West. After several years, John served as the chief of operations and later as the president of CARDA. In 1988, he was awarded the Search and Rescue Person of the Year by the California Governor’s Office and served on the Governor’s Earthquake Task Force.
John was selected to serve on the Interagency Committee on Search and Rescue as an official observer. The organization represents all federal agencies involved in search and rescue. Gallagher then was named as the Chief United States Delegate to the International Commission for Alpine Rescue, which involved John and Betty traveling to European alpine countries for meetings every October for the following eight years.
A lover of history, John served as the Noble Grand Humbug of Las Plumas Del Oro Chapter #8 of E. Clampus Vitus. He could be seen standing and cheering on his fellow Clampers each year during the Plumas County Fair Parade. For seven years John and Betty also scouted the next week’s football opponent of the Feather River College Golden Eagles football team, travelling an average of 3,000 miles a season.
In 1992, John and Betty started Gallagher’s High Adventure Camp, which hosted boys aged 8 to 14 from around the world. The camp focused on teaching outdoor recreation activities, including rock climbing, rafting, backpacking and ropes courses. The camp also served as team building for surrounding college athletes and sheriffs’ departments.
John continued his service to his country into his retirement from Feather River College by driving Veteran’s from Quincy to the Reno VA hospital. John and Betty spent 20 years as snowbirds, traveling between his self-built and beloved home in Meadow Valley to their desert oasis in Dateland, Arizona, where John and Betty enjoyed daily hikes, swimming, biking, and time with friends.
John and his love of storytelling will be greatly missed by all. Along with his wife Betty, he survived by two daughters, Sheri/husband Walter Charlton and Leslie/husband Cliff Sutton, both of Quincy; granddaughter, Vienna Gallagher, of New York; six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren residing throughout the country.
A memorial ceremony will be held Saturday, September 6 at 11 a.m. at Calvary Chapel Church, 1953 E. Main Street, Quincy, California.
