John Russell "Russ" Ayars was born into a Seventh Day Adventist family in Grand Rapids. Russ's father died when he was 11 years old. His older brother George had to take on some major responsibilities at this time. The family moved to Toledo Ohio around 1917. Eventually Russ got a job working for the railroad. The railroad offered Russ an opportunity to move to the Union Pacific Railroad in the 1920s. He married a woman named Donna MacDonald, they eloped in Canada, then together moved to Los Angeles. In 1922 they had their only child, a daughter named Madalyn. Later Madalyn married a man named Charles Marsh Baker; together they had two children. Her second husband was Barnett Steen and thirdly Fritz Keith. Russ's marriage did not work out and in time he later married an American Indian woman named Della who had been born in Nebraska. This marriage lasted nearly 50 years. Russ and Della had a horse ranch in the Passadena Area. Russ rode his horses proudly in the January Rose Bowl Parade. He was a member of the Los Angeles County Mounted Sheriffs Posse. They mostly assisted in searches in the Sierra Madre mountains while on horseback. Russ and Della moved to Kissimee Florida in the 1970s. A new passion was fishing in Florida. Russ found a church he loved to sing in near his home in Florida. He bought the church new choir robes and for his love of singing and in turn the church placed a plaque noting his generosity on the choir room door. Once in a while they would come up to Michigan to see family. Russ was interested in family history and would visit sites and cemeteries. He died in November of 1980, not long after his great nephew Kirk Vredevelt took up the cause of family genealogy, it started with a letter to and from Great Uncle Russ. His remains were scattered in the sea where he and Della lived.