Author: Celeste McLaughlin

It was a frequent sight in front of one local Publix — a golf cart dressed up with fire-engine red paint, diamond plate bumpers, and even a fire truck-style bell. Sitting in that golf cart was “Captain Jack,” the nickname John Joseph Whalen, Jr., had since his days as Captain of the Fairview Fire District in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Capt. Jack was known to many as a kind, friendly man, ready with jokes and endless stories for anyone who would take the time to listen.

His golf-cart-turned-fire-truck is missing from the Publix parking lot now. Capt. Jack died on Saturday, August 13.

Shortly before he passed away, the mileage on that golf cart rolled over to 10,000 miles. The round-trip from his home in Meadow Pointe to the Shoppes of New Tampa on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. at S.R. 56 is just over seven miles, so he must have made it more than 1,300 times. That makes sense, considering he made the trip every day he could for the past 10 years.

For years before that, when he was driving his Buick decorated with many stickers supporting his fellow firefighters, he dreamed up that golf cart. When it was time to have it made, because he wasn’t able to drive anymore, his grandson Jason designed it with him. By then, the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, had happened in Capt. Jack’s home state, and it had a deep impact on him. He lost friends and comrades that day, so he designed his own “fire truck” as a tribute.

Then he used that golf cart to connect with people here in Wesley Chapel.

Little Jacky

John Joseph Whalen, Jr., was always called “Little Jacky” as a child to distinguish him from his father. He was born January 31, 1925, and celebrated his 91st birthday surrounded by his family earlier this year. He was a father of three — Greg Whalen, Sue Ann Yero, and John Joseph Whalen, III — with four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. One of his great-grandchildren carries his name, John, and his youngest great-grandchild is Skylar, who is just seven months old.

As a young man, Jack joined the Navy and fought in World War II. His children remember that he had nightmares about the time his shipmate was killed right next to him on the U.S.S. O’Bannon. After three years of service in the Navy, he returned home to New York, where he began working for the Fairview Fire District.

“Whether it was in the Navy, or as a firefighter, he always served people, and saved lives,” says his son, John.

“He had been through a lot,” John continues. “The fires he was involved in, with those old, wood structures in New York, two or three blocks would go up in flames.” Whalen also helped fight a big chemical fire, when the chemical tanks blew up. Many years later, his injuries from that fire caused him to lose one of his legs.

But, that didn’t get him down. Always the jokester, if he bumped his prosthetic leg into something, he’d grab a Band-Aid and put it on his “leg.”

In 2014, Jack lost his wife Louise, whom he had loved for 65 years, to Alzheimer’s. She had been a registered nurse, which is how they met back in the early 1950s. He was a patient being treated for smoke inhalation in the hospital where she worked.

His children say his health was poor and he never expected for her to pass away before him. But, even with his disability, he cared for her at home as long as he could, until she moved into assisted living for the last couple years of her life. “He has lived alone these last two years,” says John, “but he didn’t want any help from us.”

Capt. Jack and Sparky

So, he would drive his golf cart up to Publix – and sometimes Walgreens at the corner of BBD and County Line Road – to visit with people. He would park the “street legal” vehicle, complete with a license plate and handicapped sticker, in the same spot.

There, he would talk with anyone who approached him, whether it was kids wanting to pet his gigantic stuffed Dalmatian, which he affectionately named “Sparky,” or people wanting to pose with him for pictures.

“He loved to let kids ring the bell on his golf cart,” says John. “He loved to tell jokes and to tell stories about the war, and stories about the fire department.”

Even after the decades of hearing his stories, his children say they never tired of them, and they didn’t feel like they were hearing the same ones over and over again. The jokes, yes. “He’d always ask, ‘Want to see my pride and joy?’ and you’d think he was going to show you a picture of his grandkids or something. Nope,” says John, showing off a little card with a picture of a bottle of “Pride” cleaning product and “Joy” dishwashing detergent. And, if anyone asked for “his card,” he showed them a business card sized paper that just says “HIS CARD” in large letters. Greg, Sue Ann and John saw him make people smile with those two cards quite a bit.

“He was a character,” says Sue Ann. “He was truly larger than life.”

A Bright Light

Capt. Jack loved the celebrity that came along with his unique mode of transportation and his willingness to spend time and share stories with his neighbors, his children say, but not because of an ego. He had always served people, and being friendly was his way to continue serving.

That’s how Meadow Pointe resident Sasha Lash met him. She was walking into Publix one morning with her son — still young enough that she referred to him as a baby, but he was big enough to spot Capt. Jack’s “fire truck” and wanted to go see it. It caught his attention because his daddy — Sasha’s husband — works for Tampa Fire Rescue.

“We said ‘hi’ and he loved that I had a little one,” Sasha remembers. “Capt. Jack let my son pet Sparky and ring the bell on the cart, and he showed him all the stickers.” After that first meeting a couple years ago, Sasha says she saw him often, introducing her older son, now 8, to him, too.

As they got to know each other, Capt. Jack had quite a bit of advice for the firefighter’s wife. “One thing stands out,” she says. “He told me to always be open to listen to my husband when he wants to tell stories about the job. First responders sometimes see the worst of the worst, so if he’s in a horrible mood, it may be because of something he’s experienced. He told me to be slow to anger, loving, and always kind.”

Sasha says she considers it, “profound advice” and is grateful for it. “It’s very true and poignant, and it’s just one of the things I learned from Capt. Jack.”

She adds, “It’s like a bright light in Wesley Chapel has gone dim,” Sasha says. “We need more people like him who aren’t afraid to get out into the community and be kind, and spread joy, and make the best of life.”

Fighting Until The End

Capt. Jack got up early every morning, a habit he developed when he was promoted out of shift work at the fire department and began a steady 5 a.m.-4 p.m. shift.  His children remember hearing the scanner in the middle of the night, causing him to jump out of bed and race to a fire. The equipment he had was crude — his son Greg says we should be thankful firefighters have much better technology today — and his kids think Whalen’s health problems were related to all of his years fighting fires without any real protection.

They recall that he always rode in a fire truck with an open-air cab, even in the middle of winter. When calls came in, the firefighters knew the general location of the fire, but they had to watch out the top of the open vehicle to see the column of smoke that would indicate the exact location of the fire. Sue Ann recalls a particular fire, in the middle of winter, when it was so cold the water was freezing as her father and the other firemen tried to use it to put out the fire.

Capt. Jack retired from the fire department in 1979. Louise worked for five more years, then they retired to the warmer weather of Pine Island, FL. Once while living there, Jack had to be airlifted to the hospital. So, he and Louise decided they would move closer to family and closer to more modern facilities. And, in 1996, they bought a house in Meadow Pointe.

When Capt. Jack passed away, he had been in poor health for quite a while. “His heart and lungs were bad from his firefighter days,” says John, as he and his sister, Sue Ann, rattle off a list of problems he was experiencing. “But, he went when he was ready. He waited until I got down here. I was stuck in Georgia and he waited until I got here to say good-bye.”

Sue Ann calls him a “consummate fireman,” and says he had a special relationship with the firefighters from Pasco County Fire Rescue Station 26, located on Aronwood Blvd. in Meadow Pointe. A whole bunch of them came to visit Whalen in the hospital shortly before his death.

Greg says Capt. Jack sat up and smiled. “My brothers are here,” he said.

Capt. Jack’s memorial service will be held on Tuesday, August 30, 6 p.m., at Whitfield Funeral Home in Zephyrhills. The family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the International Association of Fire Fighters.

To make it special, the family plans to have his golf cart at his memorial service, where everyone who attends will be asked to ring the bell in his honor.

A formal ceremony also will be held at Bushnell National Cemetery, where Louise already is buried. One of Jack’s grandsons currently serves in the U.S. Army, and he will honor his grandfather by presenting a U.S. flag to the family as part of the ceremony.

Through tears and laughter, his family remembers him.

“He loved his family, he loved kids,” says Greg. But, most of all, “he loved people.”

“He was always larger than life, over the top,” says Sue Ann. “He left a mark wherever he went.”

“You hear about legends – and most of the time they’re fiction,” adds John. “But he was a true legend.”