John R. Shirley
2023-10-23 2016-01-13JOHN R. (JACK) SHIRLEY
Obituary
SHIRLEY, JOHN (JACK) R.
John (Jack) Shirley passed away peacefully in hospice care at Bay Pines Veterans' Hospital (St. Petersburg, FL) on January 13, 2016. He is survived by one daughter, Carlabeth Litwhiler; two grandchildren, Christina and Danny Litwhiler, and; sisters Bonnie Chambers and Susan Thomason. He is predeceased by his parents, Helen and Ray Shirley, and; brothers Bill and Henry Shirley.
He was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1944 and grew up in Gainesville, Florida. He was on the golf team at Gainesville High School and subsequently served in the Navy on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt aircraft carrier during the Viet Nam era.
John graduated with a BS in Journalism from the University of Florida and applied this knowledge as an assistant editor of Golf Magazine and Purchasing Week, co-editor of Dining Out in Miami, and a reporter for the Palm Beach Times. During his diverse career, he also became an assistant golf pro; his lowest golf score was 68.
He will be greatly missed for his exuberant sense of humor, encyclopedic recall of sports stats, and a plethora of other topics.
Published in Gainesville Sun from Mar. 13 to Mar. 14, 2016