Carla Short

CARLA SHORT, 56, of Jacksonville, loving wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, friend and fighter lost her four year battle with breast cancer on Nov. 23, 2014. Carla was married to her best friend and husband, John for more than 34 years. In 2010, while serving her country in the Middle East, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. During this time Carla endured 12 surgeries, underwent numerous chemotherapy sessions, radiation and countless doctor visits. Among the many things to remember about Carla is that she was a doer, not a talker. In 1975 Carla joined the U.S. Air Force and was one of the first female security police women to undergo combat training. During that training, she was a squad leader and the first female to become an honor graduate of the Air Base Ground Defense School at Camp Bullas, Texas. She was the first female member of the Military Airlift Command's rifle and pistol team. After she left the military, she married John Short. While working and raising a family, Carla went to night school and earned a Bachelor's degree from Camble College in North Carolina and a master's degree from Troy State in Alabama. She then went on to be a family counselor with the Air Force. Carla loved family and traveling which she continued to do while fighting her cancer, visiting family and friends, even going to 181 of the 378 registered national historic sites and parks while going on several family vacations in Mexico and Hawaii. Carla touched many lives, both as a family counselor and in her personal life as a horse lover and dressage rider. She became a bronze medal rider, a dressage judge and a certified handicapped riding instructor. She also developed a riding school in the Azores on Terceira Island. She loved people and life in general and will be deeply missed. Carla is survived by her husband, John of Jacksonville; sons, James B. Short and wife, Stephanie of Jacksonville, John F. Short and wife, Naomi of Baltimore, Md., and John Fikes and wife, Tiffany and their two children, Sydney and Tabitha of Cabot; a sister, Charlotte Kroft and husband, Erik and their two children, Ryan and Tyler of Downingtown, Pa. A Memorial Service will be at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2014 at Griffin Leggett Rest Hills Funeral Home, 7724 Landers Rd., NLR. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society or the ASPCA.