Shirley & Donald Bordenkircher, Jr.

     Donald Bordenkircher, 81, passed away January 14, 2017; and Shirley Bordenkircher, 76, passed away February 4, 2017, both of Port Charlotte, Florida.  Don was born in Cochocton, Ohio, on December 26, 1935, to the late Donald and Virginia Bordenkircher.  Shirley was born in Manteca, California, on May 28, 1940, to the late Gordon and Martha Young.  Don was preceded in death by his brother Dale and sister Virginia Lynn.

     During the Korean war, Don enlisted in the United States Navy where he served in Japan as a radio operator and earned the National Defense Service Medal. In 1957 he was a correctional officer at San Quentin State Prison in California.  He then was employed in 1967 by the Office of Public Safety where he was assigned as the principal advisor to the Director of Corrections in the Republic of South Vietnam, all the while visiting weekly with his family who lived in Taipei, Taiwan.

     Upon returning to the United States in 1969, he was assigned to the Washington D.C. Office of Public Safety.  He was then appointed as the Warden of the WV State Penitentiary in 1973, the Warden of the Kentucky State Penitentiary in 1976, and again the Warden of the West Virginia State Penitentiary in 1980.  Don then was elected as the sheriff of Marshall County in 1984, and in 1989 he began a 15-year tenure as Professor and Chair of the Criminal Justice Program at West Liberty State College, while simultaneously holding down the position of Moundsville Chief of Police from 1990 to 1993.

     After Don’s retirement in 2004, at the age of 69 he began two years of employment as a civilian contractor where he was senior advisor to the Iraqi Director General of Corrections stationed in Bagdad where he closed down the infamous Abu Ghraib Prison.   Then, after two years of fishing and golfing, he again returned to Iraq in a higher position for another two years.    Finally, in 2011, he and Shirley fully retired to enjoy the rest of their lives in Florida.

      During their 58 years of marriage, Shirley served on many committees, was a writer who self published three books, and owned a formalwear business, but she would tell you that her main job in life was to raise her two children and “hold down the fort” so Don could tend to his calling.   She was a very loving and dedicated mother and wife.

     Surviving are Don’s brother David (Sharon) Bordenkircher, and his sister Mary Jean Evans all in Nevada, sister-in-law Donna Bordenkircher of California, and  Shirley’s brother Robert (Eileen) Young, and sister Dr. Margo Young, both of California; son Chris (Luz) Bordenkircher of Port Charlotte, FL; daughter Shannon (Stanley) Blankenship of Moundsville, WV, grandchildren Shera Blankenship Rogers of Moundsville, WV;  Don (Mary) Bordenkircher of Paden City, WV; Amy (Jarrell) Bailey of Wheeling, WV;  Dan (Angela) Blankenship of Westfield, NJ; Sergio Vargas of Coral Springs, Florida; Ivan Bahamon of Bogota, Colombia and Mauricio Bahamon of Bogota, Colombia, 17 treasured greatgrandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. 

A private burial was held at Sarasota National Cemetery in Sarasota, Florida for both.