John Hoey attended St. Vincents High School in Vallejo, CA, and graduated from the USF in 1959, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Physics. Lieutenant John Hoey served in the Army Ordnance Corps at Fort Knox, KY and Germany. After military service, Hoey worked for Beckman Instruments from 1963 to 1967. He worked twenty-one years for Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo as a.Nuclear Engineer, and retired in 1989 (TimesHerald).