Sidney "Sid" W. Farnsworth's Obituary
Sid W. Farnsworth, Jr., died on Tuesday, June 23, 2015 from severe emphysema and injuries from a 2006 auto accident. He and his wife, Shirley, had just celebrated their 41st anniversary on June 10th, 13 days earlier. Sid was born in Memphis on January 24, 1924 to Sidney and Elizabeth Farnsworth at their home at 1760 Harbert. He was a lifelong Memphian. He graduated from St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH and attended Yale University until enlisting in the Marine Corps during World War II and was on active duty from October 1942 to May 1946. Before being shipped overseas, he was the Middleweight Boxing champion of the Gainesville, GA Naval Air Station.He served in MAG 32, an SBD “Dauntless Dive Bomber” group of the First Marine Air Wing, as a tail gunner in the Mindanao Campaign in Zamboanga and Malabang in the Philippines. He was also a radar and radio technician and instructor. At that time, radar was top secret and the word was not even known in the civilian world.Following the surrender of Japan, he was sent to North China to serve at Tsingtao and Peking during the occupation of China. The Marines who served in China were an elite group known as “China Marines.” He was awarded the Distinguished Navy Unit Citation, Good Conduct Medal, American Theatre Ribbon, Asiatic Pacific Ribbon, Bronze Service Star, Victory Medal, Philippines Liberation Medal, China Service Medal and the U.S. Asiatic Pacific Victory Medal. He was discharged in May, 1946 as a Technical Sergeant. In 2007, some of his experiences were shared on WKNO’s program about Memphis Veterans. He was also interviewed by Gary Witt in July of 2007 for the Lausanne World War II Oral History Project released in September, 2007. The University of Memphis Department of History also interviewed him on March 22, 2006. His interviewer was Reginald Ellis. The interviews are archived in three places; The McWherter Library at the University of Memphis, The Memphis Public Library and The Library of Congress.He was an Officer of the First National Bank of Memphis until 1959 when he became Vice President of William A. Webster Company and later a Management Consultant with Integrated Control Systems.In 1963, he became a grateful member of Alcoholics Anonymous, and was active in A.A. the rest of his life whenever possible. In 1976, he started working in alcohol rehabilitation and in 1991 retired as Program Director of Alcohol Recovery Service at the Naval Hospital in Millington, TN. Outside of A.A., he served on the Memphis Area Chapter of the National Committee on Alcoholism Speakers Committee. In that capacity, he spoke to a number of church and civic clubs such as Civitan, Lions, and Kiwanis Clubs. He did not reveal his AA membership.He served on the board of the Memphis College of Arts, Lausanne School and the Memphis Cotton Carnival Association. He was Chairman of RA Met in 1956. He married Shirley Sullins Raney on June 10, 1974. In 1983, they bought a home overlooking the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis and were considered “Downtown Pioneers.” He worked with Shirley as a Sales Coordinator for Juice Plus. They traveled throughout North America and overseas.The were Charter members of the newly formed Downtown Neighborhood Association in 1984 and were part of a group that worked for two years to bring the Christmas Parade back to downtown Memphis in 1989. The group made all of the costumes and props for the parade and many of them were still being used until the parade disbanded in 2011. The recruited neighborhood children to be in the parade and also filled in the vacant “character” spots themselves along with other members. They were members of the Main Street Trolley Company that was organized to raise money and to get the Trolley back on Main Street. They remained active in downtown events whenever possible.He was the father of Sidney W. Farnsworth III of Memphis and Marianne F. Horan of Alexandria, VA and two grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his sisters, Elizabeth Kenna and Ki Cavender. He was the uncle of Linda Shubert Courtney and Rick Shubert. Shirley and Sid wanted the Trinity Hospice Team to know they appreciated every minute of their care during his long illness. He requested an A.A. funeral and a military burial.Visitation will be from 11:00-12:30 p.m., Sunday, June 28 at Memorial Park Funeral Home. This will be followed by a chapel service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to: Baptist Trinity Hospice, 6141 Walnut Grove Road, Memphis, TN 38120.Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119, (901) 767-8930, “Behind the Stone Wall.”
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