John Douglas Payne

John Payne died in the early hours of July 20, 2025 at the Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California, with Lauren Monda, his beloved companion and guitar partner, at his side. He was a good man, a good father, and a loyal friend. Music, long walks in town, and a good Mexican meal were his favorite things.

Born June 15, 1947 in Roswell, New Mexico, John spent his childhood in West Texas and New Mexico, with one memorable year in Santa Helena, California. Born into a musical family, he started playing the guitar as a boy, sitting in on the Autry musicales. He attended Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas, and subsequently served in the United States Army Transportation Corps from 1964-1967. Upon his honorable discharge from the military, he made his home in El Paso. In 1985, he and his wife Elizabeth Gilchrist relocated to Santa Barbara where they raised their daughter. In Santa Barbara, as in El Paso, he was a respected member of the musical community, as both a jazz and a country-western guitarist and a guitar teacher.

John is predeceased by his parents, Viola Autry Payne and Travis Theodore Payne. He is survived by his daughter Shelley Louise Payne of Brooklyn, New York; his sister Margaret Payne Hetrick of Gorman, Texas; his brother Marvin Payne of Riverside, California; and his ex-wife Elizabeth Gilchrist of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Burial to be in the Cow Creek cemetery, Dublin, Texas. There will also be a memorial service in Santa Barbara in the fall.