John Jokl was a member of the House of Bamboo from 1962-1965. During his HOB days John was the greatest ping pong player Queens College had ever seen. John would win the ping pong tournament for HOB every year, and that was a big help in HOB finishing first in the intramuals in 1963-64 and second the following year. With John, we could always depend upon winning the ping pong tournament. John was not only a great ping player, but a compassionate one. I remember playing with him many times, and somehow I usually ended up with 10 - 18 points even though John could have kept me under five anytime he wanted. John was a friend to everybody at HOB and loved to attend our parties, athletic events, and other activities. He was always there to offer his help, advice and encouragement.

John was part of the famous HOB trio of himself, Paul Garelick and Barry Tivin, who remained lifetime friends and all who sadly passed away in the past five years. John's sister Lillian, a great friend of HOB, married Paul several years after they graduated QC. John was the first to pass away in October 2001 at the age of 58 after a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his lovely wife Joan who works for the City of New York and their son Jared who is attending Adelphi University. John graduated Queens College in 1965 as an accounting major and then became an attorney. He spent his career with the Human Resources Administration of the City of New York protecting the rights of those who required public assistance. John was active in political and civic affairs and was a member of many organizations. John always enjoyed sports and in addition to his unchallenged superiority in ping pong, was also an accomplished tennis player.

It is easy to remember great times with John during our younger days from our college intersession weekends in the Catskills at Grossingers and the Concord, to John helping in my first and only run as an insurgent for public office in 1972, to John helping in my move from Queens to Rockland County. I always expected that once we both retired from our public jobs, we would have time to get to see more of each other and reminisce about the old days. Now, we can only envision John in House of Bamboo heaven defending his ping pong championship and befriending our other HOB members who are now with him.

Submitted by Mike Solomon