John Henry Bouldt

On Monday, July 10, John Henry Bouldt (71) died at home in Sonoma with his wife of 50 years by his side.  He had endured a one-year battle with pancreatic cancer.  He was born on March 3, 1946, in San Jose, CA, the fourth of seven children.  At the age of 17, John entered the United States Air Force and was stationed in Glasgow, Montana. The weather was so cold there that he requested to be transferred to Vietnam in 1965. A twist of fate sent him to Chambley Air Force Base in the Lorraine region of France.  There he met Annick, whom he married on December 3, 1966.  Their first child, Joanne, was born the following year.  After completing his military service, John’s desire to return to his native California took the young family back to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1968.  He continued working for the federal government at Ames Research Center at Moffett Field.  Their second child, John Henry Bouldt, Jr. (Johnny), was born in 1970. In 1986, John transferred to Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo and moved the family to Sonoma, where they have lived for the last 32 years.  John retired in 1998 after 35 years of government service.

An avid sportsman, athlete and fierce competitor, John devoted plenty of time to a variety of activities.  During his twenties, he raced dirt bikes and took up competitive spearfishing.  In his thirties, he ran the Boston Marathon.  In his forties, he established the Valley of the Moon Pétanque Club and competed beside fellow Sonomans in Nice, France and in Martinique.  In his fifties and sixties, swimming replaced running and the Black Point Pheasant Club replaced the Pétanque Club; but freediving the northern California coast remained his passion.  In his seventies, he had fun racing his Corvette at Sonoma Raceway. During the last decade of his life, John took pride in teaching his grandsons Calvin and Mathieu Sanders how to hunt, both on land and at sea. 

He is survived by his wife, Annick Bouldt, daughter Joanne Sanders of Sonoma, son Johnny Bouldt of San Francisco; three sisters, three brothers and seven grandchildren.

A Mass will be held on Thursday, July 27, at 11 a.m. at St. Francis Solano Church in Sonoma.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Hospice by the Bay.

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