The Jack Creek Horror

A lifelong resident of Michigan, C John Coombes was born to an artist. He spent his younger years heavily involved in art. In the sixth grade, his teacher and the school principal accused him of lying for claiming to have drawn a set of three charcoal renderings. The school summoned his parents for a meeting where his father stood up as a witness to his son’s work.Proud father indeed. John went on to win a scholarship in high school for his artistic abilities. In order to qualify for financial assistance, John was required to take an aptitude exam for art. He achieved the highest score ever seen by the testing staff. He attended a Kendall School of Design, now a department of Ferris State University, and upon graduation as a Graphics Designer, Hallmark Cards asked him to join their team. He was unable to accept a position due to his draft status and so entered the US Army as an illustrator.After his tour of duty, which included a medal of commendation for artwork relevant to the presentations of the Commander in Chief of Allied Forces Southern Europe, he returned to open an art and photography studio, later incorporated into an advertising agency, and even working alongside his father in the graphics department of Amway Corporation. In his mid-thirties, John changed careers to participate in the birth of computerized machining for the plastic injection mold industry, a cutting-edge technology, where he ended his career as the final dimensional inspector for outgoing product, and implementer of the ISO quality control program, which he maintained until his retirement. John retired early to pursue writing full time after transferring his need for creative release from artwork to the written word.