John Morris Parrino

John Morris Parrino passed away in the early morning hours of October 15, 2023. John was born in an ambulance en route from Georgetown to Conway, South Carolina, and would stay close to the road for most of his life, turning odometers that would make mechanics blush.  He was born to parents Estha Marie Thornton Parrino and Anthony Joseph Parrino and was the third born of four boys, behind older brothers Patrick and Michael and before younger brother Thomas.  John spent part of his childhood in Bogotá, Colombia, when his father’s paper mill work took the family there. John graduated from Darlington School in Rome, Georgia, in 1962, and from Emory University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1967. Early in his career, John was a certified public accountant and also helped to develop and patent a motor used by Georgia Power vehicles. In 1993, he earned a Master of Education at the University of West Georgia and found his calling using this degree to help others. For more than 20 years, he connected patients in crisis in rural north Georgia to mental health services at local hospitals. He went to people at their worst and helped them to find a place for recovery or long term care. For John, full moons usually meant no sleep and hours on the road between emergency rooms. The good he was doing for others kept him going. He is survived by his son John Michael Parrino, daughter Melissa Ann Sheesley (John), and grandchildren Patrick Sheesley and Caroline Sheesley. Burial will by private. His family requests that, if you are so moved, to consider a donation to The Maple Society www.maplesociety.org in his memory.