MERCER, N.J. – Louis P. Shane passed away on Feb. 13, 2024 due to illness, just short of his 89th birthday.

“Lou” was born to Marjorie Sophia Rowell and Lt. Cmdr. Louis Shane Jr. ’26 in Annapolis, Md., on Feb. 25, 1935. He was the third Louis Shane to graduate from the Naval Academy, following his father and grandfather, Capt. Louis Shane, USNA 1898. His father was killed in action in 1943 and Lou and his siblings, Janet and John, were raised by their mother in her hometown of Winthrop. He attended one year at Maine University before entering the Naval Academy.

Upon graduating on June 4, 1958, Lou married Virginia Adams on July 19, 1958. They were blessed with two daughters, Elizabeth Lee (1961) and Cheryl Ann (1963).

Lou served in several different assignments including AMMEN (DD-527), BOYD (DD-544), Submarine School, CAPITAINE (AGSS-336) and as assistant officer in charge at the U.S. Naval Preparatory School at Naval Training Center Bainbridge, Md. During that last tour, he resigned his commission and was released from active duty in February 1967.

In June 1967, he was hired as a civilian electronics engineer at the Naval Electronics System Command in Washington, D.C. He served in many different capacities in his career at NAVALEX and found time to take night classes at The George Washington University, earning a M.S. degree in Communications Systems Management in 1976. His last position was as JINTACCS program manager at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. He retired in April 1990.

During Lou’s years working in Washington, D.C., he lived with his family in Kensington, Md. Every summer, the family traveled to visit his mother in Maine and his siblings’ families in Massachusetts. Lou and Virginia divorced in 1981.

Family remained important to Lou and as his daughters married, had children and moved away, he visited both families for holidays, up until his death. Lou moved home to Maine in 1998 to care for his mother until her passing in 2001. He continued his long-term hobbies of coin and stamp collecting. He moved to New Jersey to live with his daughter, Cheryl and her husband in October 2022.

Predeceased by his parents and siblings, Lou is survived by his daughters and their spouses, Beth Shane Rose (Ian Rose) and Cheryl Shane Mercado (Fernando Mercado); eight grandchildren, Eliza (Jesse), Shane, Lucy, Dylan, Sara, Fernando, Jessie and Lydia; and four great-grandsons, Parker, Brody, Ethan and Beckham.

Copy the Story Link