Michigamme – Captain Laurence Bucknam Shanley (Ret.), age 82 of Michigamme, MI died at his home on Nov. 12, 2014.

Capt. Larry was born February 12, 1932 in Highland Park, IL to Robert Roosevelt Shanley and Katherine (Martin) Shanley. He was raised by his mother and grandfather, James Laurence Martin, attending Elm Place Elementary School and Highland Park High School. He spent the summer months of his childhood with his father on Casey Key, FL, an 8 mile island near Sarasota where his father owned a tarpon fishing charter boat and rental cottages. By age 12, Larry was taking his own small boat out into the Gulf of Mexico to fish.

After high school, Larry joined the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, where he was a weight and balance technician on a B-52 bomber stationed much of the time on the island of Okinawa, Japan in the Pacific Ocean. One of his temporary assignments during this time was to Captain the Yacht of the CEO of the Westinghouse Corp. in the Pacific.

When the war ended, Larry returned to Highland Park where he married Charlene Spizziri in 1957. The couple moved to Miami Beach, FL, where their two sons, Michael C. and Laurence M. Shanley were born several years later. The couple eventually divorced.
Larry became a full time yacht Captain after completing a two year apprenticeship with a Dutch carriage maker, learning to refinish yachts

He spent the next forty years captaining large yachts belonging to American businessmen primarily plying the waters of the Gulf Stream off the coast of Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. One of his jobs involved taking a fishing fleet of yachts to Cancun, Mexico to teach local captains the international rules of Big Game fishing.

In two successive years, Larry captained the lead patrol boat for the race from the Chicago Yacht Club to Mackinaw Island in Lake Michigan. For several years he owned a bar in Miami, the Irish House, which was so popular that the Budweiser Clydesdale horses regularly stopped at the tavern.

For the ten years prior to his retirement in 1998, Capt. Larry lived on Bimini Island in the Bahamas where he continued to operate yachts for private individuals, as well as captaining the Bahamas Transporter, delivering supplies and materials to outlying Bahamian Islands until the 131 foot landing barge was sold.

In 1998, Capt. Larry moved with his partner, Cindy Martin Coleman, to Michigamme, MI. Until recently, he was active in the community, building bookshelves for the Michigamme Community Library which he helped to establish and working with the Michigamme Historical Society, writing a children's' book, working in wood and stone, painting watercolor pictures and rehabilitating a log house for their residence. He was an avid reader and a serious lover of music.

Larry was a supporter of the Humane Society, the VFW, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, several Indian schools, the Council of Indian Nations and the Michigamme Museum. His support of children's' athletic events while in the Bahamas garnered him a commendation from the Commonwealth's Commissioner on Bimini.

He will be remembered for his creativity, his kindness, his wonderful sense of humor and his ability to dance to Calypso music.

Larry leaves behind many friends and family, including his ex-wife, Charlene Shanley of Miami, his son Michael (Emy) Shanley of Sarasota, FL, his son Laurence (Courtney) Shanley of Ft. Lauderdale, FL, two grandchildren, Lauren and Laurence, and his partner of 27 years, Cindy Martin Coleman.

Inurnment will take place at a later date in the Lakeview Cemetery in Michigamme, and in his favorite deep water snapper hole in the Gulf Stream off of Bimini Island in the Bahamas.

Memorials may be sent to the Michigamme Community Library Fund in care of Michigamme Twp., P.O. Box 220, Michigamme, MI 49861

Larry's obituary may also be viewed at bjorkandzhulkie.com where relatives and friends may leave a note of remembrance.