Son of John Robert and Florence Stoner Mason, John was born during the one year his family lived in Bridgeport, Alabama. He spent the next four years of his life in Huntsville before the family moved to Memphis and then on to Mississippi. John graduated from Central High School in Jackson and entered Ole Miss in 1939. Shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked, he, along with many of his classmates, left school to join the military. Stationed in England, John served as an Air Force navigator on planes dropping leaflets over Europe. After the war he finished his aborted college career at a university in Mexico City. He was recalled for the Korean War but spent most of that time in Libya. At the end of the Korean War, he chose to be discharged in Europe, where he spent six months traveling before going to work for "Voice of America" in Germany. He later worked in Spain and then returned to the U.S., where he was a magazine journalist in New York. Returning to Spain because many of his magazine assignments were in Europe, he spent eighteen years living in Sitges and the last few years of his life living in Benalmádena, Costa del Sol.
Son of John Robert and Florence Stoner Mason, John was born during the one year his family lived in Bridgeport, Alabama. He spent the next four years of his life in Huntsville before the family moved to Memphis and then on to Mississippi. John graduated from Central High School in Jackson and entered Ole Miss in 1939. Shortly after Pearl Harbor was attacked, he, along with many of his classmates, left school to join the military. Stationed in England, John served as an Air Force navigator on planes dropping leaflets over Europe. After the war he finished his aborted college career at a university in Mexico City. He was recalled for the Korean War but spent most of that time in Libya. At the end of the Korean War, he chose to be discharged in Europe, where he spent six months traveling before going to work for "Voice of America" in Germany. He later worked in Spain and then returned to the U.S., where he was a magazine journalist in New York. Returning to Spain because many of his magazine assignments were in Europe, he spent eighteen years living in Sitges and the last few years of his life living in Benalmádena, Costa del Sol.
