JAMES NEAL GREENE

James Neal Greene, born April 12, 1934 in Elgin, Illinois, died on Thursday, May 15, 2025, a mere five days after his beloved wife Shirley passed away. Like her, Jim was surrounded by his children and grandchildren the day he left. Losing them both so close together devastated everyone, but they had always said they never wanted to live without the other.
Jim was quite adventurous, intelligent and curious; he graduated from Elgin High School in 1952. His father encouraged him to earn his degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University where he met his beloved wife, Shirley and they married December 29, 1956. Inspired to find a new challenge, he earned his Medical Degree from Northwestern, while Shirley worked as a nurse. It was there in Illinois that they had their first son, Steven in 1960. For his residency, they moved to Texas, adding Gregory to the family in 1962. For his next challenge, he joined the Navy as a Flight Surgeon and moved to Florida. The Navy moved them to Tennessee where honorably discharged in 1967 at the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. They had their only daughter Anna Lynn in 1968 and settled in Muskogee, Oklahoma near Shirley’s parents.
Jim believed in doing every job to his utmost. He worked hard, long hours to build his medical practice and support his family, and he still devoted time to being a father and husband. In addition to making sure the home was cared for, he firmly believed in imparting knowledge to each of his children. Without distinguishing between sons and daughter, he and Shirley taught them gardening, amateur radio, cooking, electronics, auto maintenance, sewing and home repair. They took them camping and fishing and on other vacations. They made treasure hunts, Easter Egg Hunts and made sure they experienced the magic of a child at Christmas. They valued family above all, and gathered everyone together at cabins for reunions.
Jim left his private medical practice in 1978 to be a physician and faculty instructor at the Muskogee Veterans Hospital, combining his love of medicine with his talents as a teacher, teaching medical residents before sending them out as full physicians. In 1993, he moved to the less demanding Outpatient VA Clinic in Mt Vernon, Missouri where he continued to garden, fix up the home, vacation with Shirley and wind down toward retirement.
In 2004, he was elected as a Mt. Vernon City Alderman, a position he took very seriously and held for many years. He had an unheralded artistic streak. He dabbled in oil painting, watercolor painting, pottery and sculpture. He played the guitar and the piano, composing many original pieces of music. He wrote and published several books. Every quarter he would mail out one of his “chapters” talking about their life and happenings, musings, and stories in Pooh Corner, the affectionate name he gave to Mount Vernon. He wrote nearly a hundred of these treasures.
He is survived by their children: Steven and his wife Cynthia; Gregory and his wife Cindy; and Anna and her husband David; his grandchildren: Hunter, Audra, Hayden and Christopher and his wife Misty; along with two great-grandchildren Michelle and Lucy.
Jim was preceded in death by his parents, Helen Grace Floreen Green (1948) and Dr. George Noel Green (1969); his beloved wife, Shirley only a few days prior; as well as his brother George, Jr. (2019).
There will be a gathering from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on June 28, to celebrate the lives of both Jim and Shirley at the Family of Christ Church in Mt. Vernon, Missouri. Please come and share your stories and community to celebrate the blessing of knowing them. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Gentiva Hospice who cared for them both or to KUMC’s Alzheimer’s and Dementia Research to fight the disease that steals so much from families.