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- John Willis Slover, 95, of rural Flora, passed away November 17, 2017. Born October 3rd, 1922 to Leroy and Florence Slover, John survived both the Great Depression and World War II.
During the war, although both of his brothers were in the U. S. Navy, John served in the United States Army. He arrived in England in 1943 and trained for the D-Day assault as part of Company F, 156th Infantry Regiment. Luck was with him, however, and he was assigned to guard senior Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, and others at Bushy Park, the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force.
Following D-Day, Company F moved to the continent, continuing to guard General Eisenhower and other allied commanders and dignitaries for the duration of the war. Among those he protected were Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Patton, General Smith, Field Marshall Brooks, and the allied entourage at the little red school house in Rheims, France, where the Peace in Europe accords were signed. After 28 months overseas, with service in Canada, Scotland, England, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany, John Slover was honorably discharged in December, 1945.
Shortly after returning home, he married his long-time sweetheart, Thelma Kitley in 1946. They were married for 67 years, until her death in 2013.
John spent most of his working life as a printer. He worked as foreman of the print shop at the Flora Daily News Record from the 1950s until it closed many years later. He later worked as a printer for both John Martin and Danny Fender, in their respective shops, and produced grain and cattle on his Clay County farm.
Baseball was a great passion with John, who pitched for area teams. There were many who thought he might have had a professional career in the sport had not World War II intervened. He was highly sought as a player by local teams well into his late 40s.
Hunting, fishing, and just tramping the woods were a great joy to John. He loved training his bird dogs and spending long days afield in pursuit of quail as well as hunting squirrels with an antique black powder rifle. He continued to hunt deer through most all his many years.
The true joy of his life, however, was his family. Nothing put a sparkle in his eye like watching, first, his grandchildren play and grow and, later, his great-granddaughters do the same.
He is survived by his son, Bruce (Cathy), grandchildren Dawn Crabtree (Nick), Rob (Sarah) and John Slover, and great-grandchildren Molly and Taylor Crabtree and Sophia and Isabella Slover, as well as many of his extended family.
Visitation is scheduled December 6th at 11 a.m. in the Flora First United Methodist Church chapel, services to follow at 12. A light luncheon will be served following services.
Memorials are suggested to the Veterans Honor Flight of Southern Illinois and will be accepted at the service or at veteranshonorflight.org.
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1922 - 2017 (95 years)
(Age 87 years)