Jack T. Paxton, age 88, of Wildwood, Florida, passed away April 17, 2018. Jack was born to Harold and Rae (Thomas) Paxton on March 22, 1930 in Greenville, Pennsylvania.
Jack served his country in the Marine Corps in a specialized job, as stated by this article.
Jack T. Paxton came out of retirement in 2005 to assume duties as Executive Director of the United States Marine Corps Combat Correspondents Association, a national organization of Marine writers, photographers, artists and graphic illustrators.
Paxton, retired from the Corps as a captain in 1969 following a 22-year career in Marine Corps public affairs. He served tours as a combat correspondent with the 1st Marine Division in Korea in 1951-52 as well as with the III Marine Amphibious Force in Vietnam in 1965-66.
During the first 15 years of his enlisted Marine career he edited several Marine Corps newspapers including the Parris Island BOOT and the Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii Windward Marine. Later in his career he was honored for his military writing with the 1968 award of the Silver Anvil, presented by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).
After attaining the rank of master sergeant, he was commissioned a second lieutenant while serving as senior public affairs representative at ChuLai in May 1966 with the 4th Marine Regiment. On retirement in 1969 he was public affairs officer of the 6th Marine Corps and Recruitment District, then located in Atlanta, GA.
For the next 18+years he served in various public relations management positions with the GTE Corporation, retiring in 1987 as Director, Government and Community Affairs. Because of his long involvement with United Way activities he then was chosen by the United Way of America as one of four regional corporate relations managers working with 18 major companies in the southeastern United States. He ultimately retired and moved to Florida in 1994.
An avid golfer he used the military perk of space-available flying first in 1978 when he began a quest of playing each venue in the British Open Championship Rota. Since then he has made 30 trips to Scotland as well as others to Spain, Germany, Hawaii and the Azores. He is a member of the Whitekirk Golf Club in North Berwick, Scotland.
A professional writer, Paxton has had various articles published in military and civilian publications. Several of his space-available travel adventures have been chronicled in Leatherneck, the Magazine of Marines.
Paxton was born and raised in Greenville, PA. During his military career he attended Temple University, Philadelphia, PA. He is graduate of the GTE University, Norwalk, CT.
He and his wife, Pat have been married since 2000 and reside at Continental Country Club in Wildwood, FL.
Jack is survived by his wife, son Jeff, son Jack, Jr. and wife Renee, daughter, Sharon Fiedler and husband John, son Tom, son Rick and wife Kelly, step-son Michael Barry, sister Mary Jane Farmer, five Grandchildren, Shelby, Sam, Chris, Ruby, and Maddison, and one Great-Granddaughter.
A Memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Monday, May 14, 2018 in the chapel of Banks Page Theus Funeral Home with a visitation one hour prior to service time. Burial will take place in Florida National Cemetery with full military honors.
Memorials may be made to USMCCCA Foundation at 385 SW 254th St., Newberry, FL 32669.
