John Edward Short

John Edward Short of Healdsburg, Calif. had the last laugh on March 10, 2022, a day before his 82nd birthday. Always the smartest and funniest person in the room, his last two weeks were spent making jokes to the doctors and nurses and correcting misspellings written on the whiteboard in his hospital room.

John was born in 1940 and grew up in the Hawthorne area playing marbles and stickball with his lifelong friend "Coach" Tim Tift of Irvine, Calif. John starred in football, basketball, and baseball and was the "athlete of the year" his senior year at Hawthorne High School and was named to an all CIF team for football. John also excelled at academics and was named valedictorian of the class of 1957. John received numerous major university scholarship offers for football but instead opted to pursue a professional baseball career.

Shortly after enrolling at UC Berkeley, John signed a minor league baseball deal and spent three years in Bluefield, WV, Odessa, TX and Pensacola, FL. He played with notable ball players including Cal Ripken Sr. and Steve Dalkowski, one of the fastest pitchers to play the game. John recalled, "Dalkowski was the only pitcher that the ball would make a buzzing sound as it passed you in the batter's box."

In 1962, back at Berkeley, John met his first wife Jean, a new teacher who had recently moved from Minnesota. John graduated from UC Berkeley, received his M.A. degree from Cal State-Long Beach and studied German at the Goethe-Institut in Heidelberg, Germany, where he met close friends Hörst and Bärbel Nikl. He then pursued a legal career and graduated from UC Davis School of Law in 1972 (only the second graduating class of UCD Law). After beginning his legal career in Lodi, Calif., he and Jean moved to the small town of Healdsburg, CA in 1974 where he set up his law practice with his partner Mike Welty in the beautiful Victorian building at 141 North St.

John married Sharon Ryan in 1990 in Kona, Hawaii. He loved to play golf at the Windsor Golf course and softball with many of his best friends, Roger Dormeier, Steve Jarvis, Rick Romero, Terry Wise, Ken Finley, and many other locals. He also was known to enjoy a glass of wine or two, and John and Sharon always kept an open door policy at their home on West Dry Creek. Friends such as Kathy Birdsong, Kathy Basili, Bob Sheets, and brother-in-law Greg Ostermann were beyond special, and he enjoyed spending time with Ashley and Fraser Ross who were a great help to him especially in his last years.

John retired after 20-plus years of legal practice to care for his stepdaughter Jamie Ryan, whom he loved deeply. Every Sunday you could find John sitting in his chair working through the New York Times crossword with his trusty companion Nacha by his side.

Over the past several years John has been resting quietly in the River's Bend community, often spending summer afternoons watching his grandkids Delphine and Flynn play in the pool. The year prior to Covid, Dean and Tim recreated a childhood trip to the Final Four in Minneapolis, Minn. His son Dean recently took him on two adventure-filled trips to Tokyo, Japan and he visited the Outer Banks, NC with Tim's family.

John never lost his wonderful sense of humor and selfless attitude. His soul is somewhere playing baseball, cracking jokes, and celebrating his life with a cold drink. His love for entertaining friends and family lives on through his surviving family members.

John is survived by his loving wife Sharon Ann Short of Healdsburg, his two sons and their wives Dean and Kathleen of Irvine; Timothy and Lisa of Germantown, MD; and stepson and wife Chad and Molly Ryan of Healdsburg. John has seven adoring Grandchildren - Sydney, Payton, Emma, Caden, Dean, Delphine, Flynn and his "eighth grandchild" Joni Ross. John was preceded in death by his parents Edward John and Bertha Hurlen Short, sister Madeleine Hahlbeck, and stepdaughter Jamie Ryan. At the request of family there will be no service. However, a celebration of life will be held during the summer of 2022.

Published in Healdsburg Tribune · May 17, 2022