CRESTVIEW — Retired forester and Florida Forestry Association poet laureate John McMahon “will be sorely missed,” Mayor David Cadle said.
McMahon — who died Monday at age 90 following an illness — was born Jan. 28, 1915 in Fort Myers. He studied at Arkansas State Teachers College, and earned a degree in forestry from the University of Oklahoma-Stillwater.
Drafted into the Army in World War II, McMahon fought in the 1944-45 Battle of the Bulge, the German military’s last-ditch effort to repel the Allied invasion.
His career in Florida forestry began in 1951, but perhaps his largest local impact came upon his retirement when he founded the Hub City Environmental Center in 1989.
“I just like the plants and animals, and decided, ‘Well, let’s turn this into a little nature park so people can enjoy them,’” McMahon told Northwest Florida Daily News writer Tom McLaughlin in a 1990s interview.
The 2-acre park — built on a site formerly occupied by the forestry service for its lookout tower — was later renamed the McMahon Environmental Center.
As recently as last fall, McMahon would delight in guiding school groups and organizations through the park and its accompanying small nature and local industry museum, housed in what was originally the forester's residence. He planted the arboretum with more than 100 species of native trees and shrubs.
As the forestry association’s poet laureate, McMahon penned many lines of verse, but his favorite was “The Woodsman’s Prayer,” written in 1972, which he said then-Gov. Reubin Askew decreed should be displayed in every Florida welcome station.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Whitehurst-Powell Funeral Home. As of now, no date was yet set for family visitation or his funeral service.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview McMahon Environmental Center founder, namesake dies