[Dixielandjazz] RIP John F. Doyle

[zorrah at gmail.com]

My dad was a true jazz fan. Born to a musical family, he played trombone in the band, a U.S. Army band, the Stanford U band and the U of San Francisco band. His life changed forever when he heard Lu Watters play at Stanford. I grew up thinking “Uncle Turk (Murphy) was really my uncle in California.  My parents were active in the Potomac River Jazz Club and for many (many) years we were regulars at the Sacramento and  San Diego Jazz festivals. 

Hope the group doesn’t mind my posting this. Most of his contemporaries have died but some may remember him. He died last Friday, aged 94. He was a great guy and will be missed.

John Francis “Jack” Doyle, Jr., born 1/14/25, was a native of Greeley, Nebraska. John resided in Greeley until the World War II military draft propelled him into the Army. He, like many in his family, was a member of the town band; he played the trombone.

In 1944, he joined “The Army Walking Tour of Western Europe,” specifically the mortar section of a rifle company in the Eleventh Regiment of the Fifth Infantry Division, Third U.S. Army, describing his participation as a “walk-on part.” Awards from this enterprise included Combat Infantry Badge, Purple Heart and Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star and Silver Star. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and celebrated V-E day in London.
 
After recovering from his war wounds, John fled the Midwest cold to sunny California for Stanford and the University of San Francisco where he discovered traditional jazz music and political science. Upon graduation, he returned home to Greeley and promptly fell in love with Mary Helen Gartland who had grown up to be smart, beautiful and irresistible. They married 11/26/51 and built a strong and loving partnership. They spent their honeymoon in San Francisco and finally moved to California permanently in 1980. John’s education continued throughout his career at University of Nebraska (MA), Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario and The Federal Executive Institute.
 
His work involved financial and administrative activities in the national defense arena including assignments at obscure Air Force installations, international defense initiatives, fifteen years on the staff of the Secretary of Defense and five years as the Chief Financial Officer of an ill-fated Defense agency. He was also an instructor at California State University San Bernardino, Director of the profitable 2005 Wine Country Vintage Jazz Festival and a volunteer tax preparer in Sonoma County. He was an avid duplicate bridge player.
 
John’s wife Mary died 8/17/88; John died 11/15/19 quietly at home in Windsor, CA. He leaves a brother Laurence, Newport News, VA as well as two daughters and their husbands: Diane (Steve Tamberrino), Reston, VA, and Deborah (Melvin Whartnaby), Windsor, CA, as well as two granddaughters: Denise (Aiden Reynolds), Dublin, Ireland and Lucy Tamberrino, Boston.       
           
John wanted no services or memorial and will be buried with Mary at Redlands Memorial Cemetery In Redlands, CA.
 
Please raise a glass on November 26 in honor of John and Mary’s wedding anniversary and turn up the music. They threw fabulous parties; we can only imagine the party (and the bridge game!) currently happening in the hereafter.

Deborah Doyle
415-269-0540
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