Shawn Joseph Carlson

With both heavy hearts and wonderful memories, we announce the passing of our beloved son, brother, uncle, nephew, and friend, Shawn (aka Jaceson) Joseph Carlson, age 42, on Friday, June 12, 2026. Despite the heroic treatment efforts of doctors, Shawn’s scars from war were too much to overcome, and he passed quietly in hospice with his uncle Joe, brother Chris, longtime companion Will, and mother Nancy by his side. He is now reunited with his Dad Jim in Heaven and at peace, finally having defeated the demons that held him captive for over a decade.

Shawn was born in Danvers, Massachusetts on April 14, 1984, and moved to Orlando at the age of 3, living in the Turnburry subdivision of Southwest Orlando until college. He attended Palm Lake elementary, Southwest Middle School, and Winter Park High School, where he graduated from their International Baccalaureate program with honors in 2002.

He had a wonderful childhood growing up in Orlando in the 90s. Like every other child in Florida at the time, he was a Nickelodeon kid, a Nintendo kid, and an in-ground pool kid. A highlight of this time was experiencing true adventure and camaraderie with the local Indian Guide troop, “the Mighty Mohawks.” He and his older brother Chris got into mischief that can only be produced by two brothers three years apart- far too much to list- and he didn’t even snitch when that older brother almost accidentally set fire to the outdoor patio… until he finally spilled the beans many years later during his best man speech on Chris’s wedding day.

At Winter Park High school, he was both a competitive swimmer and water polo player on the Florida state championship swimming and water polo teams. During this busy time, he enjoyed camping and other adventures with his Boy Scout Troop 6, even achieving Scouting’s highest honor, Eagle Scout, in 2000. His service project in pursuit of this was building shelters for animals at a wildlife sanctuary. His love of animals was evident throughout his life, but his greatest joy came from his dog best friends through the years…Laslow, Kiya, Cooper, Lily and most especially Jake. After the passing of his beloved Jake, Shawn preferred to go by the name of Jaceson- “Jake’s Son”.

Shawn had an intense drive to make a difference in the world. So, in the turmoil and national trauma following September 11, 2001, after his HS graduation, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point by Florida Senator Bill Nelson. Shawn was committed to serving his country, even in wartime... especially in wartime. During one forward looking conversation with his parents, when asked “but why you?” his answer came like a reflex, simple and quick and without need for consideration: “why not me?” His was the heart of a patriot.

On “ A-Day”, the day on which summer trainees transition to full West Point Cadets, Shawn joined West Point’s Long Gray Line. His parents’ pride and trepidation were equally palpable. All parents dread the infamous “90 seconds to say goodbye,” and they held on to their spirited son as tight as they could before he marched off into an uncertain future. His experience was to be challenging to say the least, but Shawn’s tenacity, cleverness, and compassion would inevitably carry him through. On Graduation Day, May 27, 2006, Shawn’s brashness and love of his family was put on real display. As he was receiving his diploma from none other than his new Commander-in-chief- in a minor break of protocol- he requested then-President of the United States George W Bush to take an extra few seconds to turn to his family and wave… and he obliged! A lifelong memory that always makes his friends and family smile.

College football was Shawn’s true love and GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY, his mantra. His family was able to attend 2 Army-Navy games while he was a cadet and burst with pride as the Corps marched onto the field… a great honor for a family to share in the 200-year tradition of the storied institution.

He was a passionate enthusiast of WW2 history and was able to visit the beaches of Normandy, where his Grampy, Joseph Grelish, experienced the horrors of that war firsthand on D-Day+1.

Shawn was a brilliant young man of contrasts, with diverse interests from sports, poetry, travel and cooking. He had a quick wit and tremendous sense of humor, with a lot of range, from the sophisticated to the cheesy. He spent his last year developing witty one-panel satirical cartoons, and writing jokes for standup comedy open mic nights.

Shawn adored music and during the short 3-week summer breaks from West Point, along with his Dad and best friend, he followed his favorite band, the Eagles, in a city-by-city tour across the country. To the very end of his life, music brought him peace and joy, singing at the top of his lungs as he drove around Orlando.

New challenges and the prospect of adventure were the engines that made Shawn go. He hiked several legs of the Appalachian trail, twice. He ran (and completed!) the Atlanta Marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon, and finally, the Disney Marathon. This was the ultimate, as growing up in the shadow of the Magic Kingdom, he was of course a huge Disney fan too.

Shawn was a proud member of the LGBTQ community in Colorado, Utah, Orlando, and the Army. Like most of us, he had important romantic partners over the years that meant a great deal to him and shared large parts of his life together with him. He wanted to marry one day but unfortunately that was in a future that he never got to realize.

Perhaps Shawn’s most significant legacy will be the strength and skill of his leadership. Time and again, his fellow soldiers have testified that “Captain Carlson had a deep compassion, caring for his men as a 2nd Lt, 1st Lt and finally Captain, and was highly respected and loved by the men under his command.” His military career included assignments in South Korea, Joint Base Lewis McCord, Ft Benning, Fort Bliss, and others.

He also commanded men while deployed once in Iraq, twice in Afghanistan. These were wartime deployments, and as an infantry officer, his time in Afghanistan included extended time leading and protecting the human beings under his command during unimaginably extreme circumstances on the front lines of live-fire combat. Circumstances that would take their toll on him and his comrades-in-arms when they returned home to the country they served on the battlefield. The day Shawn was finally leaving Afghanistan, the yellow ribbon on the sycamore tree outside his home, suddenly dropped off the tree to the ground, a sign of hope and gratitude for his safe return.

During the years after Shawn’s time in the army, true to his Renaissance nature, he dabbled in a variety of pursuits, including culinary school, politics, comedy, and even IT work, but his PTSD and related conditions prevented him from finding the passion and purpose he once found serving in the US Army. Shawn’ s is sadly not a unique story. Many of the soldiers who served with Shawn have succumbed to suicide, addiction, or PTSD. These men and women only ask that the rest of us please make it worth their sacrifice. Not in word ,but in deed. On June 12th 2026, Shawn “Jaceson” Carlson joined them, finally giving the last thing he was able to give, his life, in service of his fellow man.

Shawn/Jaceson is preceded in death by his father Jim, his nephew Arthur, his uncle Tom, and grandparents, Concetta & Joseph. He is survived by his mom, Nancy, his brother Chris, his sister-in-law Kayla, his niece Matilda, his Uncle Joe and Aunt Norrine, his Aunt Patti , cousins John and Jackie, and his two dogs, Cooper & Lily.

A funeral mass will be held Wednesday June 24, 2026 at 11AM (10:45 AM eulogy & remarks) at Holy Family Catholic Church, 5125 S Apopka Vineland Road, Orlando 32819. To attend virtually, please visit, https://www.youtube.com/live/57rhDMHYft0

Burial will be on Thursday June 25th at 9:30 at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery, 5525 US1, Mims, FL 32754

Duty Honor Country