John Quirk

John Quirk was born in Philadelphia, PA to James and Genevieve Quirk. He had two older brothers, Tom and Jim, and a younger sister Carol. His eldest brother died as a young man, a Methodist assistant pastor. He is survived by Tom and Carol.

During his teenage years he considered himself a "greaser" and was proud that his first car was a '57 Chevy. He graduated from Upper Darby High School and went on to University of Southern Mississippi. He was unable to keep up with the tuition and was drafted into the U.S. Army. He served his country proudly in the Vietnam War. While in Vietnam, he was infantry and drove an armored personnel carrier. He met Bill Brewer a lifelong friend and they spent some very good times while on R&R in Singapore.

When he returned to the States, he went to live with his brother Tom who worked for an insurance company in Columbus, OH. He met Paula who was also working there. They married and had Sean. They moved to Philadelphia, and had Nicole.

John worked in sales his entire life. He worked for many different companies over the years, including Almay Cosmetics, which was splendid for Paula and Nicole. Almay transfered the family to Atlanta, GA, and they made their residence in Roswell. John loved his home city of Philadelphia, but he came to really love Atlanta so much so that he even became a Braves fan.

John was an avid baseball fan. Watching baseball is not often thought of as the most exciting sport to watch on TV, but it was when you watched with him. He loved to coach from the couch so to speak, and it became part of the family lore. He taught Sean and Nicole how to play baseball and, during the early years, the family would get together and play.

John was very concerned with ensuring his children were well educated. He suceeded in doing so as he put Sean through University of Michigan and later law school and Nicole through University of Tennessee. He was a huge fan of his childrens' respective football teams. He had hats and sweatshirts from both schools that he wore proudly.

As anyone who knew John well would know, he was very patriotic and loved politics. He loved to discuss politics and it was par for the course for the television sets to be tuned in to Fox News most of the time. Nicole loved to tease her father about this, but it never did influence his watching habits. However, he had a great enough influence on her that Nicole graduated with a degree in political science.

John's love for his children was great, but it was somewhat lesser in comparison for the great love he held for his grandchildren. He has four beautiful granddaughters from Sean and his wife Enid - Colleen, Meaghan, Elizabeth and Rachel. He has one "big guy," his 3 year old grandson Charlie from Nicole.

The children and grandchildren that John had were produced from the love that he shared with his wife, Paula, of nearly 44 years. He and Paula were best friends. They were each others lifelong companion. They loved doing all of the things that any typical couple do, but there was a sweetness, contentment and understanding of each other that was more than ordinary.

John's family and friends, when asked, pretty much resoundingly said that he was a very geniune, welcoming, positive and kind man. He enjoyed life and took any opportunity to celebrate the happy times. Given that John, despite his greatest wishes, was unable to be here with us longer, it would be a great gift to continue to share your memories of him with his family, especially with his grandkids, so that he may remain alive in their hearts.