Obituary

John D’Addamio

Posted

John Nicholas D’Addamio passed away October 4. He was 76 years old. Formerly of Monroe, John and his wife Jan retired to a farm in Longbranch for the past nine years.

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, John spent most of his early life on the East Coast. He graduated from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Science in psychology. He was also a Vietnam veteran, serving in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1970, after which he earned a Master of Science in computer science.

John worked for Western Electric, Lockheed-Martin, Digital Equipment, Compaq, Boeing and Microsoft. He became knowledgeable in many fields during his professional career, including military air traffic control and computer operating systems.

John married Janice Jackowski in 1972, and they both became involved with the Morgan horse breed. Following the purchase of their first Morgan in 1975, John developed a keen interest and went on to create a computer program for breeders in the American Morgan Horse Association to use in pedigree analysis.

The couple lived in New Jersey for a few years, moved to a farm in southern New Hampshire in 1977, but eventually left for the West Coast in 1988 to a farm in Monroe, Washington. They became interested in the Lipizzan horse breed, and just as he did with the Morgans, John soon became an expert on these rare and wonderful horses.

He attended Lipizzan breeding seminars and horse evaluations, participating in them whenever he could. By coordinating and running riding clinics featuring one of the riders from Vienna’s Spanish Riding School, John was instrumental in bringing part of the Lipizzan heritage to Washington state. His interest in dressage and its history grew after working with Dr. H.L.M. Van Schaik, who had both practical and theoretical dressage experience. He amassed a large dressage library and rode with many notable dressage riders.

He loved music and was an ardent musician, playing and teaching classical guitar. He was an outstanding cook and became a smoke master in his later years.

John is survived by his wife of 50 years, Janice; his mother Evelyn; his brother George and wife Betsy; his nephew Sean; nieces Danielle and Kate; several cousins; and four much-loved horses.

No one who knew John will ever forget him. With his amazing intelligence and his willingness to share his knowledge to help both horses and humans, he made the world around him a better place.


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