John Alan Rivers, grandson of longtime MHS math teacher Alton Rivers, attended MHS from 1976-1978 and graduated with rest of Class of 1978. Best friend of Mark Whitman and friend of Nancy Harrison, Philip Miller, etc., John Alan was a National and Oklahoma Honor Society member, a star student in Ray Wise's French classes (he later went on to teach in Paris for six years after his graduation from OU), and a person who would give the shirt from his back for a friend or, indeed, anyone in need. He had returned to the States and was living in NYC and involved in translation and publishing in 1991 when terminal illness overtook him. He is survived by a wonderful sister, Sue Vaughn, of Antlers, Oklahoma, a father in Miami, Ok, a host of devoted friends here and abroad, and the remaining class of 1978.