John was born May 3, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, the son of John and Agnes Wagner Christian. Growing up in the Depression without much money at home and losing his mother at age 11, John was nevertheless exposed as a child to ideas that would become critical to the trajectory of his life: art, engineering, and the outdoors…

John discovered mountaineering and rock climbing in 1952, on his first trip to Europe when, as a United States Army private, he explored how soldiers based in the US could take “reverse furloughs” (inexpensive vacations) across the Atlantic….

John’s marriage to Kate Hughes in 1996 was more than a meeting of the minds: it was a union of passions for the mountains and mountain sports, for the arts, for learning about new things and discovering new ideas…