Arthur Edwin Shields Jr.

Arthur Edwin Shields Jr. of Williamsburg, passed peacefully on December 17th, 2023. Born June 22, 1944, he grew up in Sparrowbush, New York and earned his first nickname “Skip” among family and friends. He graduated from Port Jervis High School and worked until the assassination of Kennedy. He resonated with JFK’s charge: “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Within two months, he’d enlisted in the Marines, trading “Skip” for “Private Shields”, and was off to South Carolina and then California for radio operator training. He spent 13 months supporting our efforts during the conflict in Vietnam. It’s said that “war is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror”. In the former, he shared his passion for playing the guitar to help keep his unit’s spirits lifted. The latter saw him earn his Purple Heart in action outside of Hue. He served his enlistment honorably and was discharged from the Marines in 1968. Right away, a friend helped him secure a position at IBM, and he traded “Shields” for “Artie”. He also secured the hand of Kathleen Corcoran, his wife-to-be, though they’d wait until October 4th, 1969 to be wed. With IBM, he’d create a 31 year career, traveling all over the country and across four continents, solving database architecture challenges for IBM’s customers. With his wife, he’d spend 54 years and he’d add “Dad” to his list of titles, having four children (of varying degrees of delightfulness). No matter where his travels took him, he’d always bring back special treasures for his family; coins, trinkets, dolls and toys, letting them know they were never far from his thoughts. Art was a fixer. If something was broken, you gave it to Skip: golf clubs, watches, radios, computers, wheelchairs, TVs and so on. Fixing things came naturally to him for two reasons. For starters, he reveled in competition - the challenge and the triumph of fixing something (and, just as importantly, the opportunity to buy another new tool). This also showed up at the card table, and the golf course (again, not missing the opportunity to buy a new gadget.) But moreover, he liked taking care of people, and fixing things was just another way of doing that. The world knew Art best through these traits, his competitive spirit, his protective nature, his love for his country, and his deep faith in the Almighty, and these traits live on in his children. In his golden years, he earned one last title, “Opa”, from his four grandchildren: Major Mercer, Kiera, Wesley and Olivia Shields. He is survived by his loving wife, his daughters, Jennifer (Mark Mercer) and Deirdre; and his son, Andrew (April Qian). He was preceded from this life by his daughter, Maureen. A celebration of life will occur on January 9, 2024 at 11am in Saint Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Rd, Williamsburg, Virginia with a reception to follow on-site. To view Arthur's Mass on Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 11:00AM. 1. Key into your browser www.bedeva.org and then hit "enter". 2. Next, please select "Watch Livestream Mass". 3. Arthur's Livestream Mass should start at approximately 10:50AM. 4. If Online streaming has not started at the scheduled start time, please refresh the page until the Online streaming begins. The family asks that any memorials be made to the Military Order of the Purple Heart (https://purpleheart1754.godaddysites.com/), the Alliance for the Physically Disabled (https://theapd.org/) or the Hospice House of Williamsburg and Support Care (https://williamsburghospice.org/).