Ardmore Sneaker Store Owner, World War II Sharpshooter, Dies At 91

Obituary courtesy O’Leary Funeral Home - Springfield.

JOHN H. SMALL, 91, on January 5, 2016.

Owner of John’s Sneaks, Point Reading Road, Ardmore PA. Beloved son of the late Henry and Mary Agnes Small. Loving brother of Theresa L. McGinty; also survived by 16 nieces and nephews

Relatives and friends attended his Funeral Mass January 9, 12:30 P.M., Church of St. Anastasia, 3301 West Chester Pike, Newtown Square PA 19073, and to his Visitation, after 11:45 A.M., in the Church. Int. SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery.

According to Philly.com, living in the area shaped him as a person and a businessman:

He endured a series of tough jobs, like hoisting 100-pound slabs of soap at a Fels Naptha plant in Darby Borough for skimpy wages, and scrounging elsewhere to make a buck to help his family.

The experiences hardened him physically and mentally, but nothing could really have prepared him for the horrors of war.

John became an Army sharpshooter in the European Theater in World War II, and survived the Battle of the Bulge, the bloodiest battle of a bloody war.

But his fortunes turned in peacetime, and he became a successful businessman, selling sneakers to what seemed like every kid and his parents in a wide region beyond the store in Ardmore.

John H. Small, who epitomized the men and women raised in the 1920s and ‘30s who became the stalwarts of the “Greatest Generation,” and went on to help mold the future of the country, died Tuesday at Dunwoody Village in Newtown Square. He was 91 and lived in Broomall.

“I believe growing up in Darby during the Depression and performing strenuous labor at an early age aided my uncle in his physical and mental toughness,” said his nephew John McLaughlin. “It very much aided him in getting through the war.

Contributions to Lansdowne YMCA, 2110 Garrett Road, Lansdowne PA 19050.(O’LEARY F.H., Springfield, PA) -