John was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands in 1930. He suffered starvation during Nazi occupation of Holland during World War II. His father was imprisoned by the Nazi's for six weeks for supplying the ten Boom family with ration cards, though they never found this out. John felt the call to ministry, went to Bible School in Brussels, Belgium, and met and married his wife there. They both felt a strong call to the mission field then Dutch New Guinea (later Irian Jaya - Indonesia) and left for the mission field (with The Christian & Missionary Alliance) (we went out under the US mission) shortly after their marriage. They would spend the next thirty-eight years on the mission field there before retiring to Toccoa, GA in 1995. The Lord blessed them with four children and 17 grandchildren! During his time on the mission field, John started, taught, and ran a Bible School in Irian Jaya.