Let the memory of John be with us forever.
So, a little bit about me. I am the son of John and Jill Strickland and the grandson of Rev. Joe Bailey and Joyce Bailey, and LtC (ret.) Johnnie R Strickland and Patricia Strickland. I am also the older brother to Audrey Gato (nee Strickland). I was born on October 12, 1994 at the old Cullman Hospital and was raised my entire life in the Hanceville area of Cullman County, Alabama.
I started my educational journey at Sonshine Preschool, and continued my schooling at Cullman Primary, then East Elementary, then Cullman Middle school, and graduated from Cullman High School in 2013 - with Honors. My first taste of wanting to be an engineer came during my elementary school Space Camp experience!
I was very active in both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts throughout my growing up years. I earned my Cub Scouts Arrow of Light award in 2007. I then crossed over into Boy Scouts, where I earned the rank of Eagle Scout in January of 2010 (the Centennial Year for BSA). I am a member of the Order of the Arrow (OA) in the Coosa Lodge of Boy Scouts. During several of my summer vacations from school, I worked as an instructor at BSA's Camp Comer Scout Reservation. I was invited to attend, and graduated from, the BSA's National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) Camp. The year after graduating NYLT, I was invited back to NYLT Camp to serve as instructor. Wilderness Survival was my favorite class to teach younger Boy Scouts.
During high school, I was a member of the Cullman High School (CHS) Robotics Team my junior and senior years. I also participated in the Department of Defense (DoD) GEMS (Gains in the Education of Mathematics and Science) Program my junior and senior years of high school.
So as not to be a "one-dimensional" individual, I also was a trombone player in middle school and high school. While in the high school band, I participated in Marching Band, competition Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, and German Band (which is only natural for a Cullman student to do!).
Now for a little bit about college. I attended Auburn University my first year of college on a full-ride scholarship. However, after one year (and a nasty bout of food poisoning) I decided that big schools were not for me. So, I transferred to Wallace State Community College (WSCC) and completed my Associate Degree in Science, before transferring to the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) as a Mechanical Engineering student. I started an summer internship with REHAU while I was a student at WSCC, and continued that internship when I transferred to UAH.
I was on my way home from college to visit my family for my birthday when I was involved in a multiple car accident on I-65 on the Tennessee River bridge on a Sunday afternoon. My parents were told that my actions that day led to stopping further cars from being involved in an even larger pile-up. However, I ended up going over the guardrail of the Tennessee River bridge...and that is how I ended up here.
You will see the following - #ahugandiloveyou - if you look around here some in relation to me. My parents started that hashtag after my death when someone was trying to describe me to somebody else. They said..."he always gave you a big hug and made sure to let you know that he loved you". If you look for that hashtag now, you will find that it is connected to my parent's crafting activities, as well as a scholarship program at WSCC in my memory to continue that legacy by helping other students.
Resting place · Hopewell Cemetery, Hanceville, Alabama
A gesture of sympathy in their memory.
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I still think of your accident sometimes when I am working on the aircraft, but I try real hard to think of the fun times we had which were plentiful. We froze our bits off, ate a ton of sausage, and liked to build and shoot stuff. When we were younger I think we drifted apart from different interest, but I am glad to say that we got stay friends throughout high school and
I'm so thankful that God gave me the privilege of being friends with you and all the time that I got to spend with you. We've had more great adventures than I can remember. Camping, fishing, building things, offroading, riding around the refuge, exploring quarries, shooting guns. We really had a lot of fun. I can't believe how lucky I was that we went to the same college (twice!) and that we even got to be neighbors in Huntsville. We all really miss you down here, but I know you're with us, watching over us, and I'm looking forward to seeing you again.
Your parents were the first friends that Ed and I made when we moved to this area over 30 years ago. Your mom and I were pregnant with our oldest children at the same time. You were born first, and you are still, without a doubt, the largest newborn I’ve EVER seen!!! :0. From that moment, our families have experienced life together, everything from the sublime to the excruciating. Some of my most vivid memories of you (I may recall details slightly different that actual)… you using your mom’s expensive fabric scissors (clearly marked “fabric only”) on a paper cutting project, which was highly unpopular. The nuclear fallout that occurred from you hastily backing your car into your dad’s car in the driveway (hastily because you were late getting to school?). Afterwards, you were told by your parents that you’d have to get a job to pay for the damage to both cars, and my boys came home to tell me that, “Connor may have to quit school to get a job to pay for car repairs”. :0 Memaw and Pepaw came to your rescue and paid you inflated wages for jobs done for them. I think the same series of events occurred over a speeding ticket you received on Hwy 31? I’m sure your parents’ responses to your screw ups seemed harsh at the time, but it seemed to me that you finally understood the lesson invoked; your actions had consequences to you. One night your parents and Ed and I acted on your insistence that we go to the Rattlesnake Cafe for dinner, a converted NW Alabama prohibition-era speakeasy located in a cave. The onion rings were tasty, but your mom and I trying not to fall out of the bed of the pickup back to our cars (the shuttle ride fish-tailing in mud straight up the cavern wall) is the most memorable part of that experience for me. :0. Great times! My older two boys carried your casket, which was the third time in a short period of time they had done such for someone close to their age. Loosing you and my parents shortly thereafter brought the reality of loss home to me in a brutal way. None of us, no matter how young or old, are guaranteed tomorrow, and life can be snuffed out in an instant. Even after eight years, I still marvel that anyone can survive a loss like yours, as we are not created to bury our children. Without question, it is a testament to your family’s faith that they have been able to continue on despite the frequent reminders of what was lost that Sunday in October 2016. Undoubtedly, the lives of your family and others who write here have been forever changed with your untimely passing. Our faith, “the essence of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen”, teaches us that we will see you again. The brutal and beautiful truth of your life and death is that as believers, our time here on earth is not to be wasted just pining for what is gone. While we draw breath, we are to brightened the corner we are planted in and to be about our Heavenly Father’s business. When our job here on earth is complete, we will be taken. It is painful, but I prefer to think that you were just a little more efficient getting your work done than the rest of us. :) See you when I’m finished my job here. ❤️
Missing you so much, Connor! You would have been 30 years old today… You were such an amazing role model for Annelyn and Evan, and continue to be even though you’re not here. That’s the kind of impact you had in your short 22 years for others as well!!! We love you and wish we could tell you happy birthday in person 🎂❤️
I thank God every day for the privilege of being your mom. You were the BEST son. I miss you so much. You were such a beautiful light in this world and we are doing our best to keep it shining. I hope you are proud of us. I know we are so proud of you! Love you buddy.
