John Howard Burns, age 66, of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, tragically passed away on August 23rd, 2024 doing what he loved climbing a Colorado 14,000 foot peak (14er). John was born August 30th, 1957, to Ronald P. Burns and Mary Lou (Anderson) Burns, in Lincoln, Nebraska.
John grew up in several small towns as the family moved around Nebraska and graduated from Yutan High School in 1975. In high school, John was in several sports and played the trumpet in band. He entered into the US Air Force as a weather specialist in 1979 and transferred into the Arizona Air Force National Guard in 1981, and was honorably discharged in 1985.
John's brother Karl traveled to Arizona in 1982 to pick jojoba beans in the desert with his brother. For four months they picked and sold their beans around the Phoenix area. During that time, they lived out of their pickups and survived on the desert landscape.
John met his forever wife, Nita, in 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. They were married in Gering, Nebraska on July 18th, 1985 and settled in their permanent home in Scottsbluff. From this marriage came four beautiful children Janet, Joshua, Stephanie, and Ashley.
John had worked at Peerless Tires for many years, refining his skills before he ultimately opened Budget Tire in 1995. John strived to turn this into a family oriented environment, at one point having his three youngest children all working in different aspects of his business. After 20 years of having a successful business, John moved on to BNSF R.