John was born in Berwick, PA, the third child of second-generation immigrants. After the passing of his mother as a teenager, John chose to forego college and enlisted in the United States Navy and served in the elite nuclear power submarine force for six years.

Following his military service, John attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville from 1974-1978 majoring in German and English. He then attended graduate school at Miami University where he earned his Masters in German and his teaching certificate. In 1977 he studied at the Goethe Institute in Luneburg, Germany. While at Miami, he co-taught the study-abroad program in Luxemburg in 1980 and 1981.

John was hired by Tri-Valley Schools in 1984 and also by Ohio University-Zanesville in 1989 to create a German language program at each school. While the German teacher at Tri-Valley, John led 18 study-abroad trips to German-speaking Europe and Great Britain, giving more than 600 students a chance to see the world.

Community service has always been a passion for John. In 1996 he founded the Tri-Valley RuriTeen Club, a community-service-minded youth group that encouraged students to be involved in the community and teach them leadership skills. Over the 17 years of his leadership, John and the RuriTeens averaged over 4000 man-hours of volunteering and donated more than $4000 back to the community each year. Many of these students have now gone on to become community leaders: doctors, lawyers, and teachers.

John is a member of St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Dresden and has served as Grand Knight with the Knights of Columbus council for many years. During this time, the council received the state‘s prestigious community service award. John is currently the Faithful Navigator of the Rosecrans Assembly, comprising the Knights’ councils in Muskingum and Coshocton counties.

John believes that Muskingum County has compassionate, hard-working residents who deserve to be treated fairly and equally. Many of those residents are not being heard by the officials who have been elected to serve them. They deserve an elected official who will treat them equally and respond to their needs. That leader is John Furek.