OBITUARY William H. Shirey March 12, 1927 – October 25, 2018 Play Tribute Movie SHIREY, William Hamilton, 91, passed away peacefully after a brief illness to be with his Lord on October 25, 2018. He was preceded in death by his parents, Alpha Elijah Shirey and Clara Hamilton Shirey; his wife, Sara-Margaret Pennington Shirey; his sister, Grace Patton, brother, John Shirey; and grandson, Griffin Shirey. He is survived by his brother, Don; his four sons, John (Sher), William (Charlotte), Richard (Rosemary) and Scott Shirey; five grandchildren, Kathryn, Penelope, Abigail, Mariclare and Nick Shirey; six nieces and nephews, Debbie and DJ Shirey, Deanna (Shirey) Poole, Van (Georgia) and Jan Shirey, Nancy (Patton) Focht.
Will was born in Layton, Pa. , an unincorporated community in Fayette County, on March 12, 1927. Will was the youngest of four children of Alph and Clara Shirey.
Layton was the site of a large brickworks. From there the Washington Run Railroad carried bricks into Pittsburgh via the B&O Railroad. Alpha worked as a conductor on the railroad.
Clara was a country girl whose father ran the local country store. The Shireys moved to East McKeesport when Will was two and regularly returned to the country to visit family, farm and play. Will grew up in a family of faith.
He was baptized in the Methodist church. His mother, Clara, led a women’s Sunday School class for over 20 years. As a child growing up in the depression and war years, he learned to make do with what he had and never had any complaints.
We learned later that his nickname as a young boy was “Bull” (short for bull-headed). He explained that it was because he would not do what his brothers or others wanted him to do. During his high school/war years, though he loved baseball, he did not have time for sports while he worked at the YMCA.
Will was a slender young boy when he graduated at 17 from East McKeesport High School in 1944 and answered the call to serve in WWII. He immediately enlisted in the military, following his two older brothers before him. Will enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp, the predecessor to the U.S. Air Force, which became a separate military service in 1947.
He was sent to Penn State for ROTC/boot camp in the fall of 1944 and then on to Europe. He never shared much about his military experience, which he described as a private on guard duty much of the time. But on rare occasions he shared about his experience coming upon a concentration camp and the deep impact those and other sights he witnessed.
Will rose to the rank of Sergeant by the time of his honorable discharge in the fall of 1946. After the war Will enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh and studied civil engineering. While at Pitt and working at the YMCA he met his wife, Sara Margaret Pennington.
They married and lived with his in-laws while attending Pitt and having the first of four sons. Upon graduation in 1950, he became a map maker. He joined the Inter-American Geodetic Survey division of the U.S. Defense Mapping Agency.
He re-located to Panama and spent the next 10 years surveying South American countries on the ground, assisting those countries in making maps of their countries. In 1965 because of his strong experience in mapping and field survey operations, he was lent to NASA in Washington D.C., to support their mapping of the moon and planning landing sights. Following his time at NASA he moved to the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) in Bethesda.
The DMA supports the military worldwide with up to date maps. The family remembers over Thanksgiving in 1979 Will being called in to go to work at the Mapping Agency. It was unusual for him to work on a holiday though he occasionally worked on a weekend.
Later we learned he was part of a team making fresh maps for what was to become Operation Eagle Claw, the Iranian hostage rescue mission of April 1980. After Will retired in 1985, he returned to Southwest Pennsylvania near where he was born. He farmed, volunteered as a baseball umpire in the local little league and was active with the Lions Club.
He was active for many years in teaching Sunday School, supporting and expanding the local Methodist churches. The family will receive friends from 4 to 7 p.m. on November 1, 2018, at Woody Funeral Home, 1771 N. Parham Rd. , Richmond, 23229.
A celebration of the life of William H. Shirey will also be held at Woody Funeral Home on November 3, 2018, at 3 p.m. In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to the American Diabetes Association. FAMILY He was preceded in death by his parents, Alpha Elijah Shirey and Clara Hamilton Shirey; his wife, Sara-Margaret Pennington Shirey; his sister, Grace Patton, brother, John Shirey; and grandson, Griffin Shirey. He is survived by his brother, Don; his four sons, John (Sher), William (Charlotte), Richard (Rosemary) and Scott Shirey; five grandchildren, Kathryn, Penelope, Abigail, Mariclare and Nick Shirey; six nieces and nephews, Debbie and DJ Shirey, Deanna (Shirey) Poole, Van (Georgia) and Jan Shirey, Nancy (Patton) Focht.
If you found any mistakes, or you would like to add/remove to this obituary, please contact us by email: info@obituary.memorial. We never ask money for this.
