Who is John H. Ryder Sr.?John was born in Morristown Tennessee and raised in Jefferson City Tennessee. He attended Carson Newman College and also continued his education in, Electronics School and Submarine School in the US Navy, many IBM internal schools and classes conducted by University professors for IBM, Area Directors School with the Charles J. Givens Organization, NC Insurance School, and various other correspondence schools on different technical topics.
He served with the US Navy aboard the Pompon SSR267,a submarine, and was honorably discharged in 1959 to pursue career with the IBM Corp. However there was something he had to do first, drive to Richmond and marry his wonderful wife, Paige. John says Paige has put up with him all these years. Paige and John celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary this May. John worked with IBM for 32 years in communications, service, project manager, research and several other areas. John retired from IBM in March of 1990. He is a retired 74 year old grandfather on a fixed income. They have two children and three grandchildren. John's hobbies are working on PC's, the Internet and travel. He has written over a 100 poems to share with others. John has been volunteering long before the folks in Washington thought it was a good thing. He has for the last 19 years been visiting heart patients at Duke Hospital and Regional Hospital. John has visited with over 10,000 heart patients and their families. Paige and John spend Saturday manning the hospitality cart at Duke to give snacks to the patients family and visitors. He volunteered taught the PC in grades K-5 and Paige helped the children to read better. Both John and his wife are volunteer host on the Piedmont train for the state of North Carolina for the last 15 years. John started a group called “Be American First”. The group is all veterans and they go to schools to teach respect for the US Flag and share their experiences in service. John is a Deacon and trustee in the Baptist church he and his family attends. John's wife and daughter are very active in church work. John says it's the Tennessee coming out in him.
I am sure this is much more than you ever wanted to know.
