John Thomas Polarine, 71
John Thomas Polarine, 71, passed away at Kootenai Health on Thursday, April 13, 2107, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Memorial services will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 22, 2017, at the Lakeview Funeral Home with Pastor Brent Dehlbom of the Sandpoint United Methodist Church officiating, with military honors. A reception will follow at the Sandpoint Elks Lodge.
John, the fourth child of Joseph and Mary Geigus Polarine, was born at home in the village of Port Kennedy, Pa., on Mother’s Day, May 13, 1945.
John attended the Upper Merion Township school system K-12. In high school, he excelled in football, wrestling and chorus. He graduated high school in 1964.
In September 1965, John was drafted into the U.S. Army.
After basic training at Ft. Gordon, Ga., he was transferred to Ft. Polk, La., for general supply school, and from there to Brook Army Medical Center, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, for medical supply parts specialist school.
After completing his military schooling he was transferred to the U.S. Army Support Center, St. Louis, Mo., in 1967.
The support center deactivated, and he was transferred to the 41st Military Police Detachment, as a supply specialist. The unit was short of the required number of military police, so Specialist 5 Polarine was given on-the-job training. From there he became a Military Police officer for the rest of his military career.
John’s many assignments included the Republic of Korea, Presidio of San Francisco, the Federal Republic of Germany and back again to his last assignment at the Presidio of San Francisco where he retired as a master sergeant E-8 on Nov. 1, 1985.
He worked in a variety of Military Police positions to include AWOL apprehension, desk sergeant, operations NCO, Platoon Sergeant and First Sergeant. His awards included the Meritorious Service Medal and, Army Commendation medal (4), and Good Conduct Medal (6).
While in his last assignment at the Presidio, he married Sherri Mitchell, also in the Army, on Aug. 13, 1983. After John retired, he traveled with Sherri to Germany. From there they moved to Ft. Sheridan, Ill., Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and then to Ft. Lewis, Wash. In December 1998, Sherri retired and they moved to Sandpoint, Idaho, where Sherri had grown up. They built their dream home near Garfield Bay on Lake Pend Oreille and enjoyed their life in North Idaho.
John is survived by his wife Sherri of 34 years; sister Elizabeth (James) Maniscalco in Pennsylvania; brother James (Doreen) Polarine in Illinois; numerous nieces and nephews and his beloved dog and companion, Ryder.
His parents Joseph and Mary Polarine preceded him in death as well as two older brothers, Joseph and Allen.
John was proud to serve in the U.S. Army and displayed it every day by wearing one of his many U.S. Army hats. No one was a stranger. He was known as “three-story John” in Garfield Bay for his colorful stories.
Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint is handling the arrangements. Please visit John’s online memorial at www.lakeviewfuneral.com and sign his guest book.