SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — John Franklin Green, who treasured his Guilderland youth and wrote several books capturing it, died on Thursday, July 29, 2021, in Arizona where he had lived since the 1980s. He was 68.

“John was very gregarious. He was very outgoing,” said his wife, Wendy Green. “He loved life and he had just a smiling personality. He was an all-around good guy.”

Mr. Green, born on July 15, 1953, was raised in Guilderland and graduated from Guilderland High School in 1971. “He loved Guilderland and had a great childhood there,” said his wife. “He was raised by his dad and his grandmother. She took him places on the bus because she didn’t drive.”

In his later years, Mr. Green drew on his own memories and those of his classmates to create a series of books, illustrated with period snapshots; the first one was titled “A Baby Boomer’s History of Guilderland: The 1950s - 1980s.”

He had started sharing his memories and pictures on a website and thought, “This thing will expire when I do.” So he thought it would be good to put it in book form to be handed down.

Talking about his book in a 2018 Altamont Enterprise podcast, Mr. Green said the town when he graduated in 1971 was “on the cusp of becoming the suburban megalopolis it is today.”

He coined the term “burb rural” to describe the Guilderland of his youth. “I grew up in a trailer court. I woke up to the sound of roosters crowing,” he said. “The court was really beautiful at the time,” he said, describing the geraniums, petunias and pansies that bloomed there.

Mr. Green also said, “They were different times. People were more trusting then. They were also more severe.”

He described his sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Nicholas, punishing him for talking back and said he became his favorite teacher.

“They were slower times. I don’t remember people dashing around like they do today …,” said Mr. Green. “We weren’t so distracted and harried by so many things.”

Some of the most numerous and fondest memories in his book were inspired by drinking places, particularly Tommy Polito’s and the Village Drummer. Polito’s was a real coming-of-age place, Mr. Green said. “When you were old enough to fake your way into Tommy Polito’s, you had come of age.”

Years later, after Polito’s Tavern, at the corner of routes 20 and 146, was torn down and replaced by a Cumberland Farms, a ceremony was held in the new convenience store to hang a painting by Mr. Green and a picture of him.

“I had Tommy’s grandson dedicate the plaque and the painting,” said Joe Carpenter, a schoolmate of Mr. Green. “It hangs there today.”

One of Green’s books is called, “The Complete Tommy Polito’s Tavern: The History of an Icon in Guilderland.”

Mr. Green worked as a graphic artist. “He was known as the Soda-Pop King. He worked with Adirondack Beverages and did designs for sodas,” said his wife.

He also wrote several novels and a memoir, many of the people with characters from his Guilderland youth.

He concluded his podcast interview with this thought: “Life is like toilet paper because it goes faster the closer you get to the end of the roll.”

After his first wife died, the mother of his two sons, Mr. Green wed Wendy Green.

The couple, married for 10 years, loved to take road trips together, including one cross-country to Cincinnati for the wedding of Mrs. Green’s niece.

“We always stayed in small mom-and-pop hotels,” said Mrs. Green.

When he wasn’t on the road, Mr. Green divided his time between their home in Scottsdale and his off-the-grid property in Ash Fork, Arizona.

At home, Mrs. Green said, “He’d be on the computer during the day. He’d talk to the computer … And he loved our five dogs …. He was also an artist. He painted off-the-wall things.” 

One series of his paintings he named “The Dragon Roll.” His wife explained, “He painted sushi rolls looking like dragons.”

Mr. Green also made and sold hand-tooled gun holsters.

When he went to his 40 acres in Ash Fork, Mr. Green would take their dog, Lola. Sometimes he went by himself and sometimes with a friend.

One of those friends was Mr. Carpenter, who had retired to Phoenix. “We had a lot of great times on his high desert property,” said Mr. Carpenter.

“His favorite place was the bunkhouse, a crude structure. My favorite place was the cabin,”said Mr. Carpenter. “We went for walks in the desert. He’d drive in his Jeep, Nellie Bell. We’d go target shooting. At night, we’d talk. He was very knowledgeable, brilliant with history. We’d talk until one of us fell asleep.”

****

John Franklin Green is survived by his wife, Wendy Green of Arizona; by his sons, Tyler Green of California, and Matt Green of Ohio; and by his brother, Vilko Green of Schenectady.

There will be no formal service; his wife said Mr. Green’s ashes will be scattered on his Ash Fork property.

Memorial messages may be left below. Sign in at altamontenterprise.com/user.

Memorial contributions may be made to MyHopeBag.org. The not-for-profit organization “empowers women with breast cancer,” said Mrs. Green, adding, “Our nieces are survivor warriors. Both of them had breast cancer.”

— Melissa Hale-Spencer