George C. Shurtleff

George Shurtleff was born and raised on a dairy farm in Pompey, New York. He was 7 years old when he and his family benefitted from the Rural Electrification Program during the New Deal. He graduated from Fabius Pompey High School in 1950. He and his future wife Thelma (“Bunny”) DeVaul met in high school, and they were subsequently married in1953. He earned his veterinary degree in 1959 from the New York State Veterinary College at Cornell University, and Bunny taught Kindergarten.

In western New York, he worked with fellow Cornell graduate Joe whom together with Joe’s wife Blanche became life-long friends of George & Bunny. With children Sheila and Scott, they moved to Liverpool, New York in 1967 where George joined the Liverpool Veterinary practice first out on Route 57 and then in a custom-built veterinary clinic in the Village of Liverpool in 1971. In Liverpool, they were fortunate to meet many new life-long friends including Rick and Jodell, and their veterinary team family including Natalie, Mindy, Kay, Theresa and many more.

Oneida Lake was another major part of George’s life where Bunny & George owned a camp on Kyser Beach making many new life-long friends and family including Doug, Arlene, Karen, Joe, Cindy, Mike, Sandra, Deb, Lauren, Evan and Connor, and a host of wonderful Kyser Beach residents in a community where the doors did not need to be locked and lake side barbecues were a shared activity.

George retired from practicing in 1998 and he and Bunny retired to Florida along with friends from Oneida Lake. When their daughter married Paul, they relocated to Memphis to help with the newly arriving grandkids Christina and Erick. In 2014, not long after Scott and his husband John moved back to Upstate New York, George and Bunny returned to Moravia, NY to be near Bunny’s large close-knit DeVaul family. They enjoyed many years of family get togethers and cook outs thereafter.

George is survived by his wife and a large number of family and friends who have collectively made his life wonderful and memorable throughout.

Calling hours will be held on Saturday July 5 from 9:30-11:00 AM with a funeral service following immediately at Christ United Methodist Church of Locke and Moravia (36 Church Street, Moravia, NY) at 11:00 AM.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Christ United Methodist Church of Locke and Moravia (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChristUMC/).

Arrangements are entrusted to the Shurtleff Funeral Home, Genoa, and online condolences may be shared with his family at www.shurtleffservices.com .