BELFAST — John Gilbert Gallione died Jan. 24, 2016, at home. He was born July 14, 1927, in Englewood, N.J., the son of Helen Guissani Gallione and John Gallione. His father died when he was 5 years old. Five or six years later, his mother married Henry J. Hyde, the man John loved and thought of as Dad.

He graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood in June 1945 and left for basic training at Sampson Naval Base that afternoon. From Sampson, he was sent to Japan and was a member of the crew sailing the Japanese battleship Nagato to Bikini Atoll for atomic bomb testing. After discharge from the Navy, John attended and graduated from Springfield College and Columbia University. His educational career spanned 33 years from the classroom to the Superintendent's Office in Bergen County. In Bergen County, N.J., John will be remembered for his athletic endeavors: from 1941 as a high school freshman playing football and as a sprinter, to February 2007 when he started and timed his final track meet. He felt privileged to have been asked to start the International Special Olympics, with whom he had volunteered for more than 20 years at Notre Dame and the Humphrey Dome in Minnesota.

He met Barbara Magens at Camp Wigwam in South Waterford, Maine, where he was the rifle counselor and she was the camp nurse. They were married Feb. 11, 1956. They lived in Dumont, N.J., for two years and then in Montvale, N.J., for 49 years before they moved to Belfast in 2007. Shortly after arriving, he started volunteering at the Belfast Soup Kitchen, where many knew him as "Giovanni" and he was a member of the Board of Directors.

John was predeceased by his grandson, Charlie. He is survived by his wife; and his four children, Carol of Durham, N.C., Mark of Denver, Colo., Paul and his wife, Rachel Brewster, of Waldo, and Stephen of Kailua, Hawaii; his grandchildren, Emily, Luke, Alexis, Morgan and Laurel; and his great-grandaughters, Lia and Arya. He is also survived by his brother, Henry and his wife, Amparo.

Services will be held at the convenience of the family and will be posted later in the Bangor Daily News. In lieu of flowers, please direct any donations to the Belfast Soup Kitchen or Waldo County Hospice.

Arrangements are under the care of Riposta Funeral Home.