Posted by XXXXXX on April 30, 2008:

James C. Shively, Jr. ’48 No. 16760 8 Jul 1925 – 26 Feb 2005 Died in Lorton, VA Interred in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA His name was James Cole Shively, Jr., but everybody called him “Pete.” Pete’s dad was a Princeton graduate who taught Latin and Greek at a boys’ school in Pennsylvania. When Pete was a boy, his father joined the Army Air Corps and spent many years in the lighter-than-air program. Pete recalled not only the loneliness of being an “Army brat” on a post with very few other children, but also the joy of helping to pull down his dad’s blimp when it landed. His mother always knew what time his dad would be home by how hard — and in what direction — the wind was blowing. As so many service children do, Pete attended several schools as a boy, including the Stark School, where the headmaster’s use of the ruler steeled him for the later, tougher discipline of Beast Barracks. He then studied at Stanton Military Academy and finally at Sullivan’s, where so many future cadets have prepared over the years. That led to one happy day when, while working on his summer job cutting grass at Arlington Cemetery, his sister delivered the good news that he had been accepted at West Point. On 1 Jul 1944, just three weeks after D-Day, Pete entered the Academy with a class that included many who had been in uniform before they entered. He adapted well to the tough, disciplined life, and he and his classmates looked forward to graduation in 1947. That all changed with the end of the war and the decision to split the class in two. Pete opted for the four-year curriculum and gold bars in 1948. While a cadet, he played football as a plebe. However, he could not compete with the bigger players who would go on in the next couple of years to win national championships as part of those glory years of West Point football. In the Corps, he served as a cadet lieutenant. At graduation, Pete chose, along with a third of his classmates, the brand-new U.S. Air Force. He really wanted to be a pilot, but his eyes were not up to it. His initial assignment at Dow AFB in Maine was followed by a tour at Ellington AFB, TX, where two nice things happened: he earned his rating as a navigator and married Lila, whom he had met in Maine and who, quite soon, agreed to serve the full tour with him. Pete put his training to good use during six years of crew duty with the 5th Bomber Wing at Travis AFB, CA, important work for Strategic Air Command in B-36s. At the same time, his marriage bore fruit with the arrival of Pamela, James, and Peter. From Travis, Pete went to academia: the newly-established Air Force Academy, where he taught navigation for four years. After then attending the Air Force Command and Staff College, he underwent one year of training in Air Force research and development with Westinghouse before serving three years with the Electronics Systems Division at Hanscom AFB, MA. He finished out his career with four years of Department of the Air Force staff duty at the Pentagon and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1970. Pete then took a job with the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC. There he had a second career, thoroughly enjoying doing important work for the National Traffic Safety Administration and often traveling overseas — with Lila always at his side — in the interest of the international automobile industry. In 1987, he retired completely, permitting him to enjoy the fruits of his labor: a home on the banks of the Potomac and country life with his beloved wife, three children, and six grandchildren close by. Pete Shively’s was a well-lived life! Secure within himself, he never had the need to impress anyone. But what an impression he left behind: the love of his wife for 56 years, a moral and ethical example for his family, and a career that did such credit to his Alma Mater. Lila and a classmate

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