Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Every Tuesday and Thursday for the past two years, the Aherns have hosted a Zoom call. For family, friends, friends of friends, their church community. For anyone and everyone.
They’d pray the rosary together.
There have been evenings where more than 100 people joined on the call. It’s always uplifting, certainly, for Jan Ahern, BA'89. But also, each call has provided confirmation of God’s divine work.
Jan remembers her husband, John Ahern, BS'88, DDS'92, once saying that he hoped his faith and strength would inspire someone. If it’s just one person who draws closer to God, John said, than his mission would be complete.
Safe to say, that happened often. It’s still happening.
This is why Jan would like to share a story with you, in her own words. It’s a story about Creighton and her husband. About love, faith and heartbreak. About a life well-lived, and a legacy of hope.
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‘He’s the one’
It was spring of 1986, and love was in the air — at least, we were talking about it in Dr. Shirley Scritchfield's sociology class. While she lectured, I tried my best to take notes. But my desk shook with relentless intensity, thanks to the nervous leg-bouncing habit of the guy sitting behind me.
That guy was John Ahern.
I gave him the side-eye, hoping he’d catch the hint. He didn’t. I think he mistook my glances for flirtation. He smiled back. In order to focus, I had to keep one hand on his leg to steady my desk and the other on my pen.
The next class, I made a strategic decision to sit elsewhere. But, as fate would have it, John sat behind me again. He still hadn’t picked up on my subtle signals. Not only that, but he was curious enough to ask one of my sorority sisters about me. Her reply? He should come meet us at the Vagabond that night.
It turned out that “bouncy-leg guy” wasn’t annoying — he was incredibly handsome, and he was great at darts and shuffleboard. As the night wore on, he asked me out on a proper date. A few days later, he picked me up, and we went to the Comedy Club in the Old Market. By the end of the evening, I was smitten with this charming biology major from Chicago. I even told my mom that night, “He’s the one.”
Love and faith
Over the next few months, we went on several more dates and had countless study sessions for our sociology class. When summer came, we spent time together meeting each other’s families, and by the fall semester, we were officially “a thing.”
Those years at Creighton were a perfect blend of learning and fun. So many unforgettable memories: sorority and fraternity parties, formals, bubbles in the fountain, snowball fights on the Mall, meet-ups in the Old Market, and social nights on 38th Street, Cuming Street, and Park Avenue.
But most eternally important was Mass at St. John’s on Sunday nights. Through it all, I was blessed to find the love of my life and my faith at Creighton. I was welcomed into the Catholic Church by Fr. William Kelley, SJ, in 1988. I will forever be grateful for the faith that has impacted my life so greatly.
John graduated in May 1988, and in the fall, he began Creighton’s dental school. By January 1989, we were engaged. I graduated in May, and we were married Dec. 22 at St. Cecilia’s Cathedral on the coldest day in Omaha history. Our reception was held at the then-new Kiewit Center on campus, and despite the frigid temperatures, the warmth of our love filled the room.
As our love for each other grew, so did our family. John graduated and we moved to Denver. By 2002, we had two sons and a daughter. John’s dental career flourished, and his passion for his work was palpable. In 2007, we traveled to China to adopt our son, and in 2010, we traveled back to bring home our daughter. In 2013, we were blessed with an unexpected but divinely ordained adoption of a little girl from Denver, completing our family in a whirlwind of love, chaos, and joy.
Through all the ups and downs, the joys and struggles of raising a family, our marriage remained grounded in love and faith. We made it a priority to steal away two to three times a year for weekends to focus on each other, always cherishing our time together. Our older children married, and we began to welcome grandchildren, watching the next generation grow and thrive.
The diagnosis rocked our world
Part of marriage is death. You know that. It’s in the vows. “Til death do us part.” And we know that life on earth is not what we strive for. The goal is heaven, and making sure we do all we can to get as many people as possible there. But when you’re enjoying God’s blessings and living out your life with the people you love, that is not something you usually keep at the forefront of your mind.
Until it’s all you think about.
In February 2023, after a couples’ trip to Mexico, our world was rocked: John was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer.
Ever the warrior, John approached the diagnosis with courage and strength. He poured everything he had into battling the disease, and we, as a family, prayed with an intensity we hadn’t known before. Radical hope. Radical love. Radical faith. Radical acceptance. John, in his immense suffering, offered it all for the sake of others and united it with Christ’s suffering on the cross.
John’s words to us upon his diagnosis were simple but profound: “If one person grows closer to Jesus because of my illness, then my mission is complete.” In the 14 months that followed, John’s battle touched countless lives. We've heard numerous stories of people returning to the faith because of him. We clung to the belief that God was using John in eternal ways.
John passed away on May 8, 2024, surrounded by his family. He died gazing at Our Lord in the Eucharist, clutching a cross, as we sang the Divine Mercy Chaplet together. His last words were “Thank you” and “I love you.” The two phrases that defined his life.
My heart is broken as I reflect on how this beautiful love story, which began so many years ago at Creighton, has been reduced to memories and legacy. But my soul takes comfort in knowing that John is already interceding for us from Heaven.
Without my Catholic faith, this journey would have been so very different. I am honored to have loved him through every moment, every challenge, and every triumph, right up to his meeting with Jesus. Creighton will always be in my heart for giving me the two greatest loves of my life, Jesus and John.
St. Paul writes in Romans 5:1-5:
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access [by faith] to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."
– Jan (Cheesman) Ahern, BA'89
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In John’s memory
In recognition of John’s life and legacy, several of his dental school classmates established a scholarship fund to support students in Creighton’s School of Dentistry.
To make a gift in John’s honor [LINK]
