Henderson native and Navy vet battled homelessness and cancer to earn his college degree
Just a few days ago, Henderson native John Shirley graduated from college with an advanced degree in determination.
Technically, Shirley’s bachelor’s degree is for business administration in real estate, but it’s the determination aspect that saw the 60-year-old walk across the graduation stage of The University of Texas at Arlington to accept it.
The U.S. Navy veteran-turned-non-traditional student had to persevere through an active duty stint, a colon cancer diagnosis followed by six surgeries and a period of homelessness during which he slept in his car in a UTA parking structure to get there, but once he made up his mind to pursue it, he never wavered from the goal of getting his college degree.
“As far as I know, (I am) the first one in my family to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. It means everything,” Shirley said. “It’s a major life accomplishment. Education is always a pathway to a better life. My message to anyone considering going back to college: If I can make it, they can make it.”
Once he started, it didn’t take Shirley long to find a UTA professor—someone who could easily relate to his situation—who became his mentor and friend.
“John had to overcome some obstacles,” said Steve Isbell, a senior lecturer in UTA’s Department of Finance and Real Estate.
“He is a one-in-a-thousand student,” the professor added, noting that when Shirley first came to his classroom and chose a seat on the front row for lectures, he knew this was someone who was engaged and had a serious drive to succeed.
“The fact that John is an adult learner, coming back to college and overcoming tremendous obstacles—and being a veteran—doing what he did at our age is hard. So, it was just an honor to have him in my class. He’s a phenomenal guy.”
Shirley graduated Henderson County High School in 1983 and attended the University of Kentucky for a few semesters before he took a pause to serve eight years in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Cochrane, with three of those on active duty in the late 1980s.
In the Navy, the gunner’s mate missile technician said he learned many skills including “how to repair almost anything.” Then he worked for a couple of decades at a variety of jobs, primarily as an electrician, while working through his health issues and accumulating medical expenses as a result of it.
After several years seeking and receiving care in the Henderson-Evansville area, he decided that he needed to move to Texas and connect with the Dallas Veterans Administration healthcare facilities and Veterans Services.
It was during that time after his health situation improved that he made a bold decision. He would go back to college.
And in August 2022, he enrolled in UT Arlington.
“When I left UK, I said I was never going back to college,” Shirley said. “But now it was a different situation and that’s why I was going back on my own wishes.”
He laid out his plan of attack, but had a fine line to navigate between pursuing college, working and paying living expenses, and that’s how he ended up living in a homeless shelter (until his time limit expired) and then his car in the parking garage.
During that time, he spent a lot of time studying in the campus library, which was open 24 hours.
“I kept my head in my books,” Shirley said about those months when his living arrangements were unsettled. “A lot of it is mindset. What you set your mind to do.”
But soon things smoothed out. He landed a job that fit with his class schedule and found a better place to live. And the lab tests from his cancer “came back clear.”
It also helped him, he said, to stay in touch with good people like his mentor/professor and other veterans.
UTA has a significant population of military-connected students (5,000 of the student body of 41,000) including 3,000 military children and spouses, according to their public relations office. The university earns accolades for this distinction.
“I liked having other veterans around,” Shirley said. “It makes you feel like you’re always on the same level. It helps deal with stress. We’re all students. We all have different stresses, but having other veterans to talk to makes a difference.”
Shirley, the son of John Shirley, Sr., and the late Coretta Anguish Shirley, regrets that his mother didn’t get to see him graduate. She passed away in April 2024 as he was taking his final exams that semester. A year later, he decorated his graduation mortarboard with her photo.
“She was a big inspiration to me,” he said.
Now he’s looking to the future with the possibility of landing a position with a financial institution or perhaps even launching his own real estate business.
“I’m ready to celebrate,” Shirley said. “I’m just so overjoyed that after all these years, it’s finally here. For two-and-half years it’s been another test, another program, a group project. Even today I had a final exam,” he said in an interview the day before graduation.
“It’s kind of unreal.”
