In Mexico on 20 August 1966 , Lerew married Josephine Henriette Oude Reimerink , a Dutch national he had met three years earlier . He was promoted ICAO 's Chief of Flight Branch in April 1969 , in which capacity he served until retiring from the organisation in 1972 . In retirement , Lerew and his wife restored houses and travelled extensively . Their expeditions resulted in two narrow escapes , in December 1974 when they tired of the oppressively humid weather in Darwin and left just before Cyclone Tracy struck on Christmas Day , and in February 1976 when they decided to camp well away from Lake Atitlan , Guatemala , which was devastated soon after by an earthquake that left over 22,000 people dead . The couple eventually settled in Vancouver , where John Lerew died of cancer on 24 February 1996 , aged eighty-three . He was survived by Josephine and the children of his first marriage
earthquake that left over 22,000 people dead
1976 Guatemala earthquake
John Lerew