Obituary of John S. Shumway

John Shumway passed away on Friday, January 15, 2010, at Providence St. Peter Hospital, from pulmonary fibrosis. He was born on September 28, 1943, in Omak, Washington, to Stuart and Frances Shumway. The family lived in Omak, San Antonio and Seattle, moving to Olympia in 1951 where he grew up on the bay at Johnson Point. John married his college sweetheart, Patsy Ayers, in 1965 and their son, Jesse, was born in 1971.John graduated from North Thurston HS in 1961 and earned a BS in Forestry in 1967 and a BS in Soils in 1970 from WSU, a MS in Soils from the Univ. of Idaho in 1972, and a Masters in Public Administration from Evergreen State College in 1995. He was a Vietnam veteran in the US Naval Reserves, with active duty on the USS Sacramento in 1967-68. As a soil scientist, John worked for the US Forest Service in the Modoc and Shasta-Trinity National Forests in California from 1972-1975, then returned to Washington and worked for the Dept of Natural Resources until his retirement in 2000 after 25 years of service. He had several publications in scientific journals on soil and forest nutrition. John (Jay) will be remembered as an adoring husband, devoted father, beloved older brother, loving son, and someone everybody looked up to. He was a private man, who held his friends and his family close to his heart and welcomed the responsibilities of life. He was a wonderful person who brought joy and laughter to everyone around him. The rapid acceleration of his lung condition and sudden death has left a hole in our hearts; however we have an abundance of happy memories to fill that empty space, one day at a time. John enjoyed scouting and drum corps while Jesse was growing up, family road trips, vegetable gardening, golf, old movies, reunions with college and Navy friends, Tacoma Rainiers baseball, Mariners spring training, being a travel companion to his Mom, tacky jokes, and after retirement, added cooking, working at the Puyallup Fair and volunteering with service organizations. Surviving are John’s wife Patsy Shumway, son Jesse Shumway, mother Frances Shumway, brother Steve Shumway and wife Mary Lou, sister Susan Rogers and husband Ron, sister Mollie Shumway, nephew Jeff Shumway, nieces Molly Ostrander and Lauren Boulanger and their families. He was preceded in death by his father Stuart Shumway. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made to your local Boy Scout Council or a favorite charity. Condolences can also be left on this website by clicking on "View Guestbook" below.