" John Charles Batcheller died at home on September 19, 2019 at the age of 75 from colon cancer. He was born October 18, 1943 as the first child to C. Coleman Batcheller Jr. (1912-2004) and Ruth E. Batcheller (nee Rowley) (1920-2016) in Alexandria, Virginia.

Both parents preceded John in death as well as his only sibling, a sister, Jean, born in 1945, who died of lung cancer in 2002 at the age of 56. He is survived by his partner and wife of 28 years, Christina Cipriotti Batcheller (Tina) of Manassas Park, VA. He is further survived by his two children from first marriage, J. Brian Batcheller (Tiffany) of Clarksburg, WV and Melissa Ann Hurley (Jason) of Myrtle Beach, SC and their mother, Deborah Post, along with grandsons J. Grayson, Lucas and J. Kaleb.

John’s first passion was music. He started playing drums in his youth. He had a band during high school. They practiced in the basement of his parent’s home. His very supportive mother drove him around Northern Virginia to play at teen dances. He attended West Virginia University, studying music. He left school, without graduating, to pursue his music career. In 1967 he met promoter, Michael Abramson, who hired him to play with the band Michael G and the Eruptions. In 1968, the band had just secured a summer gig in Wildwood New Jersey when John received his draft notice. Before he reported for duty he married. He thought his induction into the Army would derail his music career. However, while stationed at Fort Dix, NJ he auditioned for the Army band. When he was sent to Vietnam he was assigned to the Army 9th Infantry Division Band, forever relieved no one seemed to notice he had advanced infantry training. After serving and with an honorable discharge, John returned to Clarksburg, WV, unharmed, to his wife and to meet his son. He continued playing drums 2 -3 times a week in the evenings at a local supper club, to supplement the family income. He briefly owned a music store in the 70s and taught drum lessons.

After his divorce in 1979, John moved back to Northern Virginia. He gave up performing and worked in customer service. In 1987, he met Tina at a company Christmas party for Credit Card Service Corp, where they both worked at the time. They married in 1991.
 
While in Vietnam, John had picked up the hobby of photography. In the early 1990s, after receiving notice that he would be losing his job, he returned to photography. He took a certification course and became a professional photographer. In 1993 he hung his shingle as John Charles Photography, specializing in weddings and portraits. He continued this business with moderate success as a sole proprietor, until his retirement in 2006. John continued photography as a hobby.

John was an avid motorcyclist. He started riding in 1999 and has owned 7 motorcycles, accumulating over 350,000 miles. His unfulfilled wish was to have ridden in all of the 48 contiguous states. His last scheduled trip was to include the one last state; Oklahoma.

John joined the Manassas Harley Owners Group in August of 1999. He served as the director of in 2010 and 2011, and again in 2015 and 2016. During his 20 years of membership he also served in numerous other officer positions, filling the roles of assistant director, membership officer, head road captain, photographer and, most recently, that of activities officer.

Nothing gave him as much joy as motorcycling, save creating routes to ride. John was the instigator of many trips, both for M.H.O.G. and for personal pleasure. He enthusiastically shared his passion with many others.

Celebration of Life/Ice Cream Social
October 19, 2019
Martin K Alloy Boys & Girls Club of Manassas
9501 Dean Park Lane
Manassas VA 20110
2:30 – 5:30pm

Memorial donations may be made to

Capital Caring Hospice
Capitalcaring.org/donate
2900 Telestar Court
Falls Church, VA 22042

Or

Wounded Warrior Project
Woundedwarriorproject.org/donate
P.O. Box 758516
Topeka, KS 66675
"