John William Whiteside, Sr.

John William Whiteside, Sr., better known as "Jack” or AKA "Tastykake Jack" passed quietly in his sleep at age 77 on July 3, 2021.  Jack was born on August 4th, 1943, in Oxford PA, as the youngest child to James Sherman & Beulah Whiteside.

He graduated from Marple-Newtown High School in 1961 and immediately enlisted in the Navy serving on the U. S. S. Enterprise for his entire tour of duty and seeing the ports of the world. At the end of his enlistment, he returned to Newtown Square to pursue his love of racing and working on cars, he built his street racing car which he raced at events in Philadelphia.

On March 30th, 1968; he married Gail Thacher, settled in at Westbrook Park, Clifton Heights PA, where he raised his three sons; Lawrence, Richard, John Jr. He went on to join the Tastykake Baking Company in 1970. Expanding his love of industrial size equipment and mechanics. During his 37-year career, he helped provide specialized service and knowledge to the super-sized baking equipment, including enhancing them with the newest technology provided in the baking industry, while working his way up to management before retiring in 2007.

While Jack loved mechanics; he enjoyed working with his sons on a small Lawn Maintenance business in the summers.  Racing was a passion for many years and always enjoyed watching a good race on T.V. One of Jack's favorite things to do was to listen to the old school country music on the radio. Jack will always be remembered by his quick one liner, friendly overtone of wisdom and his love and compassion for family & friends will always be remembered.  

Jack is survived by his three sons Lawrence (Auburndale) Fl., Richard (Aldan) Pa., and John Jr., (Lakeland) Fl.; two grandsons; Lawrence William Jr. and Daniel Graff (Auburndale) Fl.,  one niece and 2 nephews and several cousins. He is also survived by the mother of his children Gail Rezzonico, (Auburndale).  Jack was preceded in death by his father James Sherman, mother Beulah, brother James Jr, & sister Margaret 'Peggy'

In lieu of flowers, you can make a donation in Jack's memory to the COPD foundation,  1140 3rd Street NE, 2nd floor, Washington, DC 20002 https://www.copdfoundation.org/

We will be having a celebration of Jack's life at the end of September. If you would like to join us, please send your information to the following email Johnwhitesidetastykake@gmail.com and we will send you all the information.  

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of John William Whiteside, Sr., please visit our floral store.