John's father moved the family to Holland in 1943 to head up the Carr Spring mattress company. Ties to the area went back another generation because John's grandfather built a house in Macatawa after he emigrated from Sweden.

 

John grew up close to water, giving him a love of boats and water skiing. The Sligh family promoted water skiing along with their power boats. They ran 2 schools in Holland and one in Chicago. John taught water skiing as well as performing in shows. The national water skiing competition was in Holland in 1949. He loves both hard and soft water sailing (ice and water).

 

John joined Carr, which sold internationally while their licensee Spring Air sold in the US. Because John traveled so much for his work, he became a pilot and flew planes around the country. John joined the Holland Rotary in 1973 but was traveling and wasn't very active.

 

Carr was bought by Spring Air and then by Leggett & Platt. John stayed working for the company through these acquisitions, eventually leaving in the early 2000s. John purchased a supplier of the mattress business, Omni Die. He has become more active in Rotary, particularly working in our district with the assistant governors.