John Lawler

John Edward Lawler

June 30, 1943 – July 21, 2015

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, deceased in Fort McCoy, Florida

John was the third of three children of Anna Theresa Glennon Lawler and Joseph Charles Lawler.

He was baptized Catholic and attended Parochial schools through Elementary school, High School and College.

He had an early love of music and often accompanied his Father, who had a band, to music jobs. After his Father passed away at the young age of 51 (when John was in his early teens), John took up guitar in his mid-teens.  John participated in Philadelphia’s unique Mummer string bands, and marched in many chilly New Year’s Day Mummer parades during his late teens and early 20’s.

John joined the Air Force National Guard in the early 1960’s, reaching the rank of First Lieutenant and honorably discharged in 1972. His group installed electronic communications equipment throughout the Eastern United States.

In John’s early 20’s he also began his career in electronics and computers, majoring in Electronic Physics (as that was before computer engineering existed) during the early 1960’s. His first computer engineering position was with Burroughs Corporation outside of Philadelphia, working on hardware design in large mainframe computers for the US Defense and Space programs. Through the years he had worked with a number of companies including Control Data, Johnson Controls, Alphatype, ComDev and Teltronics to name a few.  In the 1980’s he shifted from hardware design to software design, and independently contracted doing custom software computer design from the mid 1990’s through to 2014. John also held an Advanced Ham operator’s license.

John met his wife, Ruth Ellen Becker Lawler in 1971 in Philadelphia, while she served with VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) for a year’s assignment. They married on July 8th, 1972, traveling to Ruth’s home town in Sarasota, Florida to wed, and then returned to Philadelphia to live and work. In the mid 1970’s John and Ruth purchased a 27 foot sailboat and moved aboard in the late 1970’s, traveling from the upper Chesapeake Bay to Bradenton, Florida, where they lived on their sailboat until 1981.  As they were expecting their only child, Maryann Katrina Lawler in 1981, they purchased a home in Bradenton and became landlubbers again.  They lived in their 1932 built “English Cottage” style stone home for nearly 30 years.

John continued to pursue his computer work, with a dual passion for guitar music.  He was fortunate to continue playing guitar, usually solo, in a variety of appreciative venues, while improving over time.  He additionally played for about five years with “Yellow Dog Jazz Band” under Robin Wetterau, specializing in early traditional jazz.

While their daughter was in middle school, it was fortuitous that John was doing contract computer software design with a flexible schedule and could be involved in Maryann’s activities, even serving as “Room Mom” for two years. John was very involved in many civic and cultural organizations in the Bradenton/Sarasota area during his three decades residing there.

In 2003 John and Ruth were fortunate to purchase their future retirement home within Ocala National Forest. They moved to their cabin full time in the summer of 2011. Their log cabin is on nearly seven acres, with guest cottage, and provided them the ideal retirement environment, yet only a three hour drive from their daughter in Bradenton.

In June 2014 John had colon tumor surgery, yet recovered fully and resumed good health.  He experienced another year of peaceful retirement enjoying the natural environment of the cabin and woods.  Unfortunately, fate caught up and he was home alone while apparently choking, and was found unresponsive when Ruth returned from shopping, being gone a few hours.

John can be remembered by all who knew him as a very kind and sensitive man of high character. He will be dearly missed.