John Charles Churchill

John Charles Churchill (Jack) was born in Lawrence Hospital, Bronxville, NY on September 10, 1942. He attended P. S 8 for elementary school. As the family lived on a dead end street, Jack and his buddies played stickball games in the street every evening after dinner in good weather. From those early days, he was clearly a gifted athlete. 

Jack would pretend to be a radio host as a youth and collected hundreds of records, sparking a lifelong love of music. 

For middle school he attended Halsted, a private school in Yonkers, NY.

His high school years were at Roosevelt School also in    Yonkers. There he excelled in basketball and baseball which is noted in trophies with his name still present at the school.

Always a Yankee fan, he often went to games with his friend and a mitt. A Sports Illustrated photo shows Jack in the bleachers catching Yogi Berra’s 250th home run. He completed Junior college at Mitchell in Statesville , N.C. And 

College was at East Tennessee State where he majored in Business.

As his parents had relocated to Georgia , he began working at J.C.Penney but was drafted by the U.S. Army(August 1966-August 1968). While serving as a Personnel Specialist at Ft. Knox ,Ky. Jack met the love of his life , Miss Kitty (Katherine Thompson) at Whispering Hills Country Club in Louisville, Ky. They wed June 14, 1969 and were happily married for 54+ years. He had a  34 year career in retail with the J.C. Penney stores in Atlanta and South Florida. After retirement from JCP he worked in Customer Service for Delta Airlines. His remaining years were happily spent in Maggie Valley, N.C., and Dunedin, FL where he had many friends, sports, and spent many hours as a hospital volunteer. He was the perfect Dad , father-in-law and Grandfather (“Papaw”) to Christine Churchill Kenneth( Robert J. Kenneth), Candace Churchill (Andrew Reynolds), and Devin and Liam Kenneth , and Max Reynolds Churchill, all of Gainesville, Florida.  Jack is also survived by his wife and his sister, Diane Churchill of South Nyack, N.Y. Dementia robbed him in the end (May 17, 2024 at 9:30 am in Gainesville, Fl)  but couldn’t destroy his spirit and love for music, family and friends. He sang with loved ones on his last day, even when he couldn’t open his eyes. May “this Jack” rest in peace.