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Larue Barnes: On the edge
John Weever, knife maker, helps U.S. Special Forces
John S. Weever Jr. and his wife, Sue, have had a peaceful environment at their home on the Brazos River since 1998.
But the former Cleburne insurance agent admits he has lived most of his life on the edge of adventure, longing for surges of adrenaline.
His life’s journey took a patriotic turn recently as he has been inspired to handcraft unique military knives and donate them to select U.S. Special Forces soldiers.
A traveling childhood
John S. Weever Jr. was born Sept. 27, 1938, in Dallas to John S. Weever and Barbara Weever. He said he and his mother traveled from one U.S. Army camp to another in his preschool years with his father, a U.S. Army major and company commander.
“Mother and I went to the government developmental projects by Baylor Hospital in Dallas when my dad was sent into the European theater of the war,” he said. “During my childhood I traveled extensively with my grandparents, Dr. George and Irma Weever. They treated me as an adult — allowing me to explore on my own when we traveled.
“In Mexico, I watched artisans melt silver and make their creations in molds on the sidewalk. I watched how candles were made for the Catholic churches there. I had conversations with those who could answer me in their broken English — everything was of interest to me. I wanted to know everything about everything.”
After the war, his father became a pharmaceutical sales representative. He was away from home often because his territory included five states. The family included a younger sister, Mary Jane, by the time they bought a home near Love Field in Dallas. John spent time in his father’s workshop.
“I had my own work table with a vise, grinder, honer, chisels, etc. I recall constructing tiny rockets. That was the beginning of my using my hands, I think.”
“I loved the social aspect of school,” John said. “I went to Hillcrest High School in Dallas, among very affluent and cosmopolitan classmates.”
He had a great time and was excited when he was chosen Best Looking Boy his senior year and was successful in running track. He received a pink convertible for a graduation gift in 1956, with life at its best, he thought.
“But I was in for some changes in my life,” Weever said. “I attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. I had visited the area many times with my grandparents. I chose a pre-med major, like the three generations before me. I pledged Phi Delta fraternity and wound up winning a decathlon through a physical education class and was invited to run track.”
Changing times
Things were going well when his world fell apart. His father died of a heart attack at age 49. John dropped out of school. He dropped other things as well.
“Our family attended church at Lover’s Lane Methodist Church as I was growing up. I moved away from all that.”
He joined the U.S. Army in 1958, being sent to Korea.
“At Fort Chafee, Ark., I was the last of a brown-boot army,” he said. “The guy behind me was issued black boots. All of us before him had the brown ones. I dyed mine to make sure that they were black. When I got my official haircut the barber told me proudly that Elvis Presley had sat in that very same chair.”
He grinned and added, “Our conversation and my haircut were over before I knew what had happened.”
He said he looked for something adventuresome to help him in his despondency.
“I had no previous experience with real weapons. As a child I loved to shoot my BB gun. I concentrated on firing the M-1 rifle accurately and wound up with the camp’s highest score. They rewarded me with an airplane coming for me. I boarded it with the general. It was quick — I saluted him, we went up, we shot the bull, and I got out.”
After his discharge from the Army in 1962, Weever worked for a time at Texas Instruments.
“I was a technician, working with developing Kodak’s materials. It was boring, and I decided I wanted to find a job in the medical field.”
His search for adventure took him a long way from Dallas. With $15 in his pocket, Weever drove his Volkswagen Beetle all the way to Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo.
“I was given a job in the lab there. I wouldn’t get a pay check for two weeks, and my money was almost gone. I was offered an additional job three nights a week at Barnes Hospital, nearby.
“I spent the nights in the blood bank there while I ran the chemistries. I was living mostly on orange juice.
“I had learned to ice skate back in high school and went to Forrest Park there in St. Louis to skate. I met Sue Fairfield one night when I was offered hot chocolate and introduced to her by her roommates. They were all social work graduate students at St. Louis University.”
The couple married a few months later on April 18, 1965.
Back to his roots
While they lived in Illinois, John completed his bachelor’s degree and received his master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Southern Illinois University in 1969.
“I had been a poor student earlier in college, but I excelled in my graduate level courses. That was a secure feeling for me.”
They returned to Texas in 1971. Weever was director of planning for the East Texas Council of Governments in Kilgore for two years. Then he served as assistant director of the Fort Worth Planning Department and created the Office of Human Development.
“But I needed more money for my family. We had all three children by then. I had the opportunity to become a State Farm agent in Cleburne in 1978. It was a ‘from scratch’ agency. I didn’t know a soul in Cleburne. I had zero clients. It was a real challenge, but I built a successful agency.
“I believe that salesmen are born, not made. My real challenge for 25 years was representing my clients’ claims to the insurance company. People don’t always realize how you try very hard to help them in their time of need.”
Risky adventures
Weever’s world widened when he bought his first BMW motorcycle.
“I needed an edge. I needed adventure and excitement. So I began group riding with some friends from high school and their friends.”
His self-confidence was evident when he decided to make an almost 10,000-mile journey although he had never ridden his motorcycle outside of Cleburne.
“We were gone three weeks. It was glorious — seeing Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana — all the way to Calgary, Canada, and back. I’ve always felt that life is to be lived.”
But his life was at risk. Soon afterwards he had quadruple bypass heart surgery.
“I was having heart problems when I left on that trip. I just didn’t accept the fact, I think.”
After only seven weeks, however, Weever was back on the road again.
He decided to close his doors at his insurance agency in 2003. He spent seven weeks in four states, enjoying the release from stress.
“In 2004, the sights I saw were indescribable as I rode a motorcycle in the Alps of Austria,” he said. “Then there were 16 days in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.”
He smiled and explained, “Up in those mountains, there are no railings. You are literally on the edge.
A new trade
Weever has found creative fulfillment for the past 23 years through knife making.
He began making hand-crafted hunting knives after seeing them displayed at gun shows in the Texas-Oklahoma area in 1985.
“Since I like to work with my hands and have been an avid hunter, I saw an opportunity to develop a hunter’s tool called a Knachet. I donated one in 1987 to the Heritage Ball as an item for their fundraising.
“I know where all of my earliest knives found their homes — some are framed.”
During the past 15 years Weever has fine tuned his craft and now produces hunting knives with blades designed from metals such as Vascoware, Damascus steel and stainless steel. Handles are designed from exotic materials such as fossilized whale disc, fossilized mammoth ivory and ram horn. A custom-made sheath is prepared for each knife from elephant ear — or sometimes crocodile skin — by cutting, molding and sewing to fit.
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