The first Beta in my family was my grandfather Walter (Bode) Malloy, Ohio State 1905. My father John R. Malloy II was an Alpha Eta Beta Class of 1937 (his nickname was “Beast”). My brother William M. Malloy is also an Alpha Eta Beta, Class of 1963, as well as a “Wingless Angel.” We were part of the “Bexley gang” in the House. I understand that Pete Halliday ‘59 and Tom Rice ‘59, along with Bill and me remain. Bill achieved four football and three varsity wrestling letters. I have three varsity wrestling letters. Bill received a Master’s from Wittenberg and a PhD from Ohio State.
I graduated from Denison with a Bachelor of Science degree, but did not pursue post-graduate studies. In 1959, a most memorable Spring Break was spent in Havana, Cuba, accompanied by my Beta House roommate George Brown ‘60 and Sigma Chi Dave Brunner.
While waiting to enter Coast Guard Officer Candidate School, I repossessed cars in Columbus and worked as a hotel cabana boy on Miami Beach. I was commissioned an Ensign, USCG. A 32-year career at sea on the Great Lakes followed before retiring in 1996 from the Army Corps of Engineers as Master and Mate of a sea-going hopper dredge. I’ve always worked as a shiphandler and docking pilot on the bridge of a variety of large vessels.
Coast Guard assignments included one as Commanding Officer of the first Coast Guard station established in 1962, at Marathon in the Florida Keys. Then it was on to Kodiak, Alaska for duty as the navigator and Russian translator on board a CG icebreaker. I am most likely the only American to captain two arrested Soviet trawlers in 1968 during the height of the Cold War.
I have a son John R. Malloy IV (Phi Gam at Depauw) and a daughter Mary Ellen (deceased). I received a valid Commercial airplane pilot’s license with single-engine, multi-engine, and instrument ratings, although there has never been a need to fly professionally.
Years ago, I was confirmed as a Catholic and have been active in the Knights of Columbus. I’m living with my second wife, Jane, in an upscale hunting cabin on the side of an Ozark mountain in Mountain View, Arkansas. We have two dogs—one is a large Great Pyrenees. For over 30 years I’ve been a Civil War reenactor commanding a Confederate company fighting battles in the South as well as commanding a camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. I have also been a black powder gunsmith for the State of Arkansas.
I’m 84 now, but still have my marbles and vivid memories of my years in the Denison Beta house. Days here in the Ozarks are spent with a chainsaw and looking after our whitetail deer herd.
Take care of yourselves out there. Grab every bit of life… I sure have!
Yours in –kai–
John Malloy AH861