From John’s eulogy delivered by Ambassador Robert M. Kimmitt ’69, A-4:
“I met John Elwin Rountree, on Jul 1, 1965, the day we first marched onto the Plain at West Point. In August of 2011, as he waged his final battle with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), we said goodbye, for now. In those intervening 46 years, John Rountree—“Tree” to us—became our fellow soldier, close friend, and loyal brother.
Let me say it flat out: John Rountree was a stud at West Point. For Tree, leadership, friendships, and athletics came naturally, almost effortlessly. I looked up to John Rountree from the moment I first met him.
Example: The R-day for the Class of 1969 arrived, and John shows up not only with his proud parents, Betty and Lynn Rountree, but also with the beautiful Miss Dorothy Carr. I mean, who shows up on day one with a babe in tow?! We learned quickly—John Rountree always did things above and beyond.
Tree excelled in everything he did, from pole vaulting to leadership. He was especially proud of commanding Company A-4 in the march-on at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia in December 1968, just before we beat Navy in football 21-14. And Tree knew about beating Navy: he earned six stars on his Army A letter from 1966-1969, the track team beating Navy in every dual meet, and Tree never losing a vaulting competition to Navy. Army athletes strive for one or two stars on their letters for beating Navy, but to get six is phenomenal. In his final Caring Bridge posting, Tree said he was blessed to be a member of the Class of 1969 and especially Company A-4. We felt blessed to have him, too.
On Thanksgiving Day 1968, John proposed to Dottie in the pole vault pit at West Point—I guess that’s considered romantic in Southern California—and they were married after graduation in June 1969. They, and first daughter Kimberly, began their new life together as a young Army family. John qualified as an Airborne Ranger and served in the Signal Corps, including as aide-de-camp to General Richard Horne. Late in 1971, Captain Rountree was assigned to Vietnam, where he eventually commanded a combat Signal company.
Tree felt he did not have a true combat tour, as those who served in combat in front-line units did. From John’s Caring Bridge farewell: ‘I count my blessings for the forty wonderful years the good Lord gave to me. You see, there was a day in Vietnam that I could have died on three occasions, and others around me did. I remember looking up while prone in the middle of an enemy artillery barrage going off all around me, and asking God to let me live and return to my family. Well that was forty years ago and I know every day has been a gift from God.’
As an important part of his bucket list, John, Dottie and other classmates drove over the Hai Van pass from Danang to Hue. At the Citadel in Hue, John showed Dottie the headquarters location of the ARVN Commander he visited daily—frequently under fire, coming and going. This visit helped me assure him he had a real combat tour. You can read about that tour in John’s book, Short Tour, Vietnam Memoir: From Front to Rear.
After earning his MBA while serving at the Signal School, John decided to leave the Army and follow his entrepreneurial instincts. So in 1974 the Rountree family, now also including Allison, returned home to their beloved Southern California. John and Dottie’s princess Amy, with her special needs and special gifts, was born soon thereafter.
During those years, John was busy pursuing the life of a young father, always guided by West Point’s motto: Duty, Honor, Country. In his entrepreneurial years, John’s self-proclaimed goal of periodically "reinventing himself" was demonstrated as he provided CEO leadership/management to a family-owned paper distribution company, a commercial bakery, a media company, and a commercial aviation services company.
In giving back to his community, John has been recognized for his quarter-century of leadership in civic and charitable causes, especially as a champion for the Padua Village group homes for adults with intellectual disabilities.
Dottie, you and the family were always John’s first loves. But you know how strong was his love of country and West Point. I am proud to tell you that the American flag before us today was flown over the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on the day of John’s death, and over West Point shortly thereafter. We hope that as you look at this flag in years to come, it will remind you of that special bond that united John and our great Nation and Academy.
On Walt Ballenberger’s first Beaux Voyages bike tour in France, our last hotel was the beautiful Chateau de Puy Robert. Dottie and John got a particularly nice corner room. The rest of us were outside on the lawn on that beautiful July evening, when John flung open a window above us and yelled out, ‘We finally have a room with a view,’ or as John pronounced it that evening, channeling French Inspector Clouseau, ‘...a r-r-room with a ve-yuh.’
Dottie and family, classmates and friends, John is now in another special room, with a view more spectacular than we can imagine. And I know he will be leaning out that window and smiling broadly to greet us when we see him again.
John Rountree—good and faithful husband, father, grandfather, son, and brother; exceptional classmate, soldier, and friend: you showed us how to live, and, more importantly, how to prepare for our next life beyond. Well done! Be Thou at Peace."
— Edited by Glenn Porter ’69, A-4