At 9:30 AM on January 9th, 2023, Haggin Oaks hosted a Celebration of Life with friends and family members for local legend John McGregor. John’s sunrise was October 21st, 1941 and his sunset came on December 9th, 2022. John was a longtime resident of Sacramento and a retired employee of the Los Rios Community College District. He was an academic counselor at American River College where he touched the lives of young people.
John was a champion golfer and a great organizer. He was the founder of the most organized skins game in the Sacramento region which began in the mid-1970s. The game traveled throughout most of the public and municipal golf courses throughout the Sacramento Region.
Several people spoke on behalf of John’s contribution to their lives. In fact, if there was ever a setting that explained the aspects of why golf is such a great sport, this was it. Most everyone spoke about how he quietly made them better golfers, but most of all, better people. His standards for always doing the right thing with others were profound. Kevin Sutherland stated, “I wasn’t aware until my mid to late 30s of the impact John had on me as a person when I was a teenager growing up.” It seems everyone in the room feels the same way about our special friend John McGregor.
We sincerely thank Clyde Daniels, Pastor William Laws, and Michael Craft for holding “Johnny Mac’s” Celebration of Life at Haggin Oaks.
Michael Craft eloquently presented the following poem:
Miss Me – But Let Me Go
When I come to the end of the road
And the sun has set for me,
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room,
Why cry for a soul set free.
Miss me a little, but not too long,
And not with your head bowed low,
Remember the love that we once shared,
Miss me, but let me go.
For the journey that we all must take,
And each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the Master’s plan,
A step on the road to home.
When we are lonely and sick at heart,
Go to the friends we know,
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds,
Miss me, but let me go.
Written by Ken Morton, Sr.
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