Gary Ray Shoemaker

Early in the morning of May 25, 2015, Gary Ray Shoemaker, 80, of Clearwater, FL, entered into rest from complications related to Multiple Systems Atrophy. A celebration of life for Gary will be held Saturday, June 6, at 2:30pm at Calvary Baptist Church, 110 N McMullen Booth Rd, Clearwater, FL 33759, with Pastor Willy Rice officiating. The family will receive friends from 1:30 to 2:30pm at Calvary. Gary was born in Oklahoma City, OK on August 29, 1934, the son of Raymond and Lyda Morris Shoemaker. He grew up in the same town, and graduated from Central High School. Gary served 4 years in the United States Air Force, then graduated from the University of Oklahoma (whose football team he avidly followed - Boomer Sooner!) on the GI Bill. He met Jane Carrico while in college, and they married on August 11, 1961. Gary was hired by Proctor and Gamble with his first assignment in Topeka, Kansas. He moved quickly up the ladder, and subsequent jobs took him to Kansas City, then to Philadelphia where he chose to leave Proctor and Gamble and join the H.J. Heinz Company. Their first daughter, Raye, was born there, then Gary was promoted to Pittsburgh, PA, then to Buffalo, NY, and back to Philadelphia, where they had their second daughter, Julie. Gary was then promoted to Regional Sales Manager in Atlanta, GA. After a few years, he chose to change careers and "the Shoes" moved to Waco, TX, and Dallas, TX. Other career opportunities brought him back to Pittsburgh, followed by two years in Boston, MA. They then moved to Olney, MD, where they stayed for four years. A new job with American Agronomics brought Gary, Jane, and Julie (Raye was in college) to Florida, briefly in Palm Harbor, and then finally to Clearwater, where he spent over 30 years. Once in Clearwater, his job fell through, and he was unemployed for a few months. This time became very significant for his faith, and he emerged from that time passionately devout, which he was to remain for the rest of his life. He determined to remain in Florida and ended his career with fourteen years as a sales manager at Better Business Forms in Pinellas Park, until his retirement in 2000. He and Jane had a joyous retirement together, traveling frequently (primarily throughout the lower 48 of the United States, plus tours to Alaska and Nova Scotia), playing cards with friends, and staying in shape. Gary's lifelong athleticism (a long history of golf and tennis, and, in college, a freshman walk-on tryout with the famed OU football team) showed itself as he continued to play golf (getting to play on Pebble Beach was a highlight), and then he joined a competitive softball team (3 Score Association), where he played ball three mornings a week until 18 months before his passing. Gary spent his life as a devout Christian in the Southern Baptist Church, though, while in the Northeast, he and his family attended many different denominations as he served as tenor soloist in each city. His soaring tenor voice made him a featured tenor soloist at every church they attended, and he directed adult and youth choirs along the way. He and Jane and Julie came to Calvary Baptist in 1985 and during his time there, he was interim director of the adult choir, chaired the search committee that brought Pastor Rice to the congregation, was a part of the Disaster Relief team which worked in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, visited Ukraine five times on mission trips, as well as mission trips to Mexico City and Costa Rico, and sang as a soloist, in the choir, and in the church's gospel quartet, all of which brought him great joy. Gary was also passionate about theatre, and his voice and acting ability won him the tenor role in many community productions along the way, including Joe Cable in South Pacific, Freddie in My Fair Lady, Lancelot in Camelot, Billy in Carousel, and, later in life, Harold Hill in The Music Man. After retirement, he performed in many Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. Gary is survived by wife Jane Shoemaker, brother Tony (Carolyn) Shoemaker, daughters Raye (Scott) Varney and Julie (David) Frum, and granddaughters Blair and Emma Varney and Jessica and Rachel Frum. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (www.pdf.org) or Calvary Church (www.calvarybaptist.org).