John Alan Nail, 78, of League City, Texas went home peacefully to be with his heavenly father on December 8, 2021 with his family by his side.

He is survived by his wife, Cynthia & mother-in-law, Betty Utterback of League City, Texas. Daughter, Danelle Hammond and her husband Doug and sons Johnathan, Matthew, and Danny of Valley Center, Kansas. His son, Jason & his wife Beverly, and daughters Briella, Jordynn & Felicity Nail; his son Jared & his wife Melinda, and their children Cash & Brynnley Nail all from League City, Texas.

John was born in Wichita, Kansas on June 20, 1943 to Ernest Cleo and Elva Alvira (Ally) Nail. He grew up in Wellington, Kansas with two younger brothers Jack & his wife Kay Nail, daughters Valerie & Howie Slaughter of Topeka, Kansas & family, Jennifer & Corey Barlett of Topeka, Kansas and Joe & his wife Vonda Nail, sons Derek Nail, & family, Dustin & his wife Amie Nail & family and Daren & his wife Amanda Nail & family; his Uncle Larry Woody & his wife Sondra all of Wichita, Kansas.

John is also survived by his brother-in-law Joe Utterback of Stratford, Connecticut and his brother-in-law Mike & his wife Susan Utterback and their daughter Kristi & Jamie Hosty & family all of Atlanta, Georgia.

John grew up in Wellington, Kansas and graduated from Wellington High School. He left home to attend Emporia State University for a couple of years, then decided to set out a semester and went to work for the railroad as a fireman as he needed money to buy his first car. He then went to Wichita State University and later to University of Alabama to pursue training with the Air Force in Aerospace Rescue  & Recovery which prepared him for serving in Vietnam & Korea.

John’s career was varied to say the least. When he returned from Vietnam where he was in the Air Force and was qualified as a co-pilot of a HH-43B. He no longer wanted to be in the medical field which was unfortunate as he could have been equivalent to a physicians assistant. Instead he went to work for the Sheriff’s Office in Kalamazoo County, Michigan; after a couple of years he became a Deputy Sheriff. He then decided to move back home to Kansas going to work at the District Attorney’s Office as a Special Investigator. He kept that position for a couple of years and then worked his way up into management of the Child Support Division. There he met the love of his life Cynthia & her daughter Danelle, and they were married in August of 1977. Then along came Jason a year or so later, and finally Jared!

Saddled with the expense of a growing family John decided to take a position in Contracts with the Boeing Company and later went over to Lear Jet, now Bombardier at the invitation of the VP, working there long enough to get a small pension today, at least staying in the aerospace industry! He was elected President of the National Contract Manager’s Association in 1986.  In between his aerospace industry positions, always having that entrepreneurial spirit, he ventured into his own business of consulting for three years but later he stated it’s not always “greener” on the other side of the fence!  So he returned to Boeing with an invitation of his lifetime to work at the Space Station in Houston. He was responsible for working with the Russians to get the first three modules of the Space Station in orbit, which meant negotiating and signing numerous contracts between the Boeing, Russia & Khrunichev Space Center. John did achieve 20 years of service with Boeing. John’s biggest regret there was leaving his daughter, and family behind in Wichita, Kansas.

One funny story about John when he took his position at the Space Station. I guess you could say he was technically challenged back in 1997. The first day of work he was ushered into his office where he saw a computer. He had no idea how to even turn it on as back then secretaries were the ones that had computers, not managers. So he had to purchase every book that he could find and read them day and night in order to be able to learn quickly. Within three weeks he was headed to Russia with a laptop full of required applications software that he had to learn. Anyway, he always felt like that was one of his greatest personal achievements!

John enjoyed his grandchildren and was so proud of them!  One hobby that John was interested in and hoped the grandkids would get a kick out of was model railroading. He was always buying trains and planning his train projects, but most of them never came to pass as we moved back to the Houston area and he lost his game room and his health got in the way. He loved his cars beginning way back in his twenties when he owned fancy sport cars. As he moved into retirement he enjoyed showing his cars and attending car shows. For a short time John owned a speed boat and later a pontoon. We enjoyed boating on Canyon Lake in New Braunfels, Texas and later exploring the bayous in and around the Clear Lake area where both sons lived. Soon those boats were traded in for more expensive ones and Dad & Mom stepped out of the boat picture! Another thing John enjoyed right up to the last year or two was fishing. As our kids were growing up, countless hours were spent fishing, each time setting new records as to how many were caught in an hour when we lived in the country in Kansas. As he moved into retirement, we once again felt the need to find a house on the water so that he could continue to fish and we would enjoy the wildlife that comes with it.  The first thing John wanted to do was buy duck food so that when the grandchildren came over for a visit they would have something fun to do. Unfortunately, our mornings would begin with loud quacking until someone would feed them and that continues on… As John grew sicker and was wheelchair bound the last year and a half of his life, his favorite spot was on the patio looking out at the water watching fish jump, declaring that was the largest fish yet!

Celebration of Life service will be held on Friday, January 14, 2022, 11am at Crowder Funeral Home, 111 E. Medical Center Blvd., Webster, Texas. The service may be viewed via live-stream at 11:00am.

Immediately following the service we will proceed to the Houston National Cemetery for a short military honors ceremony at 2:15pm.

In lieu of flowers , donations may be made to Wounded Warriors Project.org.