John B. Bestic Jr., 81, Vietnam vet retired as senior CIA officer
March 27, 2025
John B. Bestic Jr. of Willbrook Plantation died March 23 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 81.
He was born April 13, 1943, in Spokane, Wash., to John Bestic, a major general in the Air Force, and Frances Powell. His parents were both Midwesterners. The eldest of three brothers, John grew up in Nebraska, Hawaii and Virginia. He graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, in 1965, with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a lifelong love of Tar Heels basketball.
He had planned to join the Peace Corps as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic, an assignment that was canceled when President Johnson sent the 82nd Airborne Division there instead.
With the Vietnam War heating up, and expecting a draft notice, Mr. Bestic enlisted in the Air Force. He became an officer and served on active duty from 1965 to 1971, working in intelligence and special operations, in Germany and Southeast Asia. In the latter capacity, he logged over 1,000 combat flight hours in the air over North Vietnamese-controlled Laos and was awarded multiple Air Medals.
In 1966, while training in Denver, Mr. Bestic met Kathleen Madigan. Initially, she would neither talk to him nor give him her name, but he deployed wit and charm, and the couple married in June 1967.
After returning from Southeast Asia, Mr. Bestic transferred to the reserves and earned a law degree from the California Western School of Law in San Diego in 1974. While on a reserve tour at the Pentagon, he was recruited by the CIA.
Mr. Bestic served in the CIA from 1975 to 2002, mostly overseas, as a member of the Clandestine Service. He, Kathie, and their children spent about 20 years living in eight countries, mostly in Africa, some not known as “garden spots.”
He was remembered as blunt, creative, aggressive and with a spark of wit. But he was not flashy. He was outspoken in support of his organization and his people, and effective with U.S. partners and against U.S. foes. In a crisis, he was the one you wanted. Mr. Bestic retired as a member of the Senior Intelligence Service.
The Bestics moved to Pawleys Island in 2003. This marked the longest span in 57 years of marriage they had lived in one place. He continued to work intermittently as an international security consultant, until 2010.
And he played much golf, a favorite pastime, until his last months.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his brother, Jeffrey, of Aspen, Colo.; his children, John III of Las Vegas, Edward of Alexandria, Va., and Laura, currently in Maputo, Mozambique; and his grandchildren, Evan and Charlie, and Kiera and Luke.
Another brother, Philip, formerly of Litchfield Beach, died in 2020.
A small gathering for friends will be held in coming weeks with a private family memorial service later in the spring.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Teach My People at teachmypeople.com, St. Christopher’s Children at stchristopherschildren.org and Smith Medical Clinic at smithfreeclinic.org.
