Mehring, John (Roy John Mehring II) was born on February 16, 1953 in Ponca City, Oklahoma and passed away on March 31, 2018 at 65 years of age. John struggled with two major diseases, human immunodeficiency virus and sarcoma. The immediate cause of death was cancer. He passed away at St. Benedictine Health Care Centre. John graduated from Ponca City High School in 1971 and from the University of Oklahoma in 1975. He held a BA in history and political science. John had three careers: psychiatric nursing; occupational health and safety and union organizing; and elementary education. He lived in Germany as an AFS student in 1970-71. Among the places he lived for extended periods are: Ponca City and Norman, Oklahoma; Pennsylvania, Seattle and for the most extended period in San Francisco. For the past four years he had made his home in Minneapolis. At the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, John became active in the community mobilization in San Francisco to address the growing health crisis. He helped to produce the brochure "AIDS and the Health Care Worker," which was mass-distributed beginning in May 1984. After his time as a psychiatric technician at Presbyterian Hospital in San Francisco, he turned to teaching. John worked as an elementary school teacher for the San Francisco Unified School District, 2006-2014 and finished his education career as a full-time reading tutor in Minneapolis, 2015-2018. On April 30, 2018, his former colleagues in San Francisco held a memorial honoring his work among them and the contribution he made to so many people who were living through the AIDS crisis. John is survived by his father, Roy Mehring, in Midway, Arkansas, and his sister, Diana Williams, in Canberra Australia. A memorial service and scattering of ashes will be held at the Lakewood Cemetery, 3600 Hennepin Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55408, at 1:00 p.m. on June 2, 2018.