John Williams Vellines

John Williams Vellines, or "Jack" to everyone who knew him, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family on Saturday, March 7, 2026. Born on November 25, 1925, he was a lifelong resident of Norfolk and lived 100 remarkably healthy and independent years.

Jack is assuredly glad to be reunited with his bride, Maude Willard Wilson Vellines (1921-2002), to whom he was married for 49 years, and loved until his last breath. Together they had two children: John Wilson Vellines and Claire Connelly Vellines, both of whom cherished their parents and the love they had for one another.

Jack and Maude were fondly known as Grandmommy and Grandaddy to six grandchildren, in whom they delighted. To John and Stacey Joy Vellines– John Wilson Vellines Jr., Erin Vellines McCabe, Lindsay Vellines Carzolio, and to Claire Vellines and Tim Ficker– Hannah Ficker Adams, Virginia Leigh Evans, and Kyle Christopher Ficker.

Born in Norfolk, VA to Wilson Williams and Mabel Clair Vellines (Mabel Farrell Wright), Jack grew up alongside his siblings, Wilson Farrell Vellines and Norma Vellines Eley. He was a 1943 graduate of Maury High School, where he played baseball and the clarinet. Upon graduation, Jack voluntarily enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces, where he joined the Allied campaign in Italy as a proud member of the 347th Fighter Squadron.

After the war, Jack attended Hampden Sydney College and The University of Alabama before returning to Norfolk, where he was introduced to his future wife at Second Presbyterian Church. The two were married in 1953 and welcomed their first child a year later. Jack had a memorable 40+ year career at Old Dominion/Dillard/International Paper Co. where he made lifelong friends among his co-workers and customers.

Despite being an accomplished salesman, Jack's true passion was for the outdoors. He spent countless hours fishing and boating on the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. From charter trips on the Eastern Shore to the local shallows of the Hampton Bar or Lafayette River, his 24' yellow T-Craft was hard to miss. He built his cherished cottage, The Quacker Jack, in 1970 and enjoyed hunting waterfowl and sharing the salty air of Sandbridge Beach with family for many years. Jack and his family were instrumental in creating the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club's Annual Family Fishing Tournament. For 31 consecutive summers, he made his way to the docks to assist and inspire generations of young anglers with a characteristic patience and humor.

With a quick wit and a capable hand, he held onto people with the same steadiness and ease with which he handled a fishing rod. The trunk of his car was packed with tools and gadgets to help out anyone in need. Many will remember stopping by the Rockbridge Avenue garage for a bite, a brew, and unhurried conversation. Morning coffee in the NYCC dock house was a ritual he shared with countless members and staff, and you could often find him at the Tidewater Boat Club picking crabs or playing gin rummy with friends. Attentive and never judgmental, his character was magnetic and his friendships spanned generations. A father figure to many, Jack led by example to inspire kindness, honesty, and respect.

Jack was active in the local community as an affiliate of numerous fraternal, charitable, and social organizations, including the Norfolk Yacht and Country Club, the American Legion Post 35, the Tidewater Boat Club, Norfolk Sertoma, the Norfolk Elks Lodge, as well as a lifelong supporter of both Ducks Unlimited and the Sandbridge Volunteer Rescue Squad.

In surviving to the age of 100, Jack was grateful to have known his fourteen great grandchildren, two of whom are named for him! They are Jack, Gibson, Nell, and Wick Vellines, Jonathan, William, and Sam Adams, Jack and Mae Evans, Gracie and Rosie McCabe, Owen and Cora Ficker, and Millie Carzolio.

There is so much of Jack that we continue to hold onto, as he leaves behind an enduring legacy of constancy and love. When we pick a crab clean or repair a broken thing, share a meal or a joke, and when we choose to embrace the people we've been given as the most valuable of gifts, then we will be living out the lessons he taught us.

Cheers to you, our dad and Grandaddy, comrade and friend. We love you.

A memorial service will be conducted 2:00 p.m. Saturday March 21, 2026 at Second Presbyterian Church in Norfolk.