Earl David Green

Earl Green passed away in his sleep at his home in Homosassa, FL, on the morning of June 10, 2021, at the age of 81. He’s survived by his greatest loves: his wife, Connie; his daughter, Kristen (and her husband, Jared); and fishing … not necessarily in that order.

An only child, he was born in 1940 in Benton Harbor, MI, to David and Virginia Green. He spent his childhood on army bases in Kentucky, Germany, and California, before proudly serving in the Air Force in crash rescue from 1959 to 1962.

Earl met Connie, his wife of nearly 51 years, at a moon landing party in Manhattan Beach, CA. Less than a year later, on June 20, 1970, they were married at the Little Church of the West in Las Vegas. Their honeymoon was a road trip across Canada and into Michigan, where the couple settled down and later raised their daughter. In 1977, he opened Earl’s Sport Stop in Woodbury, MI, where for more than two decades he sold boats, motors, bait, and tackle — and, perhaps most memorably, he offered a place for people to gather, tell stories, and share a laugh. The store’s tagline was, “Where fishermen meet fishermen,” and when people met Earl, they rarely forgot him. Between sponsoring fishing tournaments, cheering at his daughter’s sporting events, and sharing his advice (if not the exact location of his favorite fishing spots), Earl made a huge impression on his community.

Earl sold the store and retired in 2000, at which point he and Connie began living their snowbird dream, splitting their time between their beloved cabin on Whitefish Lake in Wawa, Ontario, Canada, where the Greens had vacationed since 1987, and their Walden Woods home in Homosassa, FL, where Earl and Connie lived just a couple of hours from their daughter and son-in law and found a community of wonderful, lifelong friends who he loved deeply. They loved him, too — and not only for his famous fish fries. In recent years, Earl and Connie became full-time Floridians, and although Earl threw fewer casts as he neared his 80th birthday, his sense of humor never ceased.

While many knew Earl as a consummate fisherman and sports fan, he was also a fantastic — and enthusiastic — dancer, which won’t surprise anyone who watched him spinning Connie around the dance floor. He went to school to become a barber on the GI Bill, and he cut Connie’s hair for years — occasionally Kristen’s, too. He loved to tell jokes, even though he often started laughing so hard that nobody could understand the punchline. His love of storytelling was passed along to his daughter, and together, in 2019 they published his true and touching short story of teaching a young man to fish, on Gary Yamamoto’s Inside Line... https://www.insideline.net/features/2019/7/23/earl-and-the-shark-hunter.

He enjoyed reading westerns and watching professional bull riding, college sports, and MMA fights. He made southwestern enchiladas that took up a whole plate — and nothing delighted him more than the way people reacted when they saw what he was serving. He knew how to pick out the best watermelon and made sure everyone got a slice. He shared his yogurt with his cats and always welcomed his dogs and granddogs into his lap, baked excellent oatmeal cookies, sang horribly (often making up his own words), and gave wonderful hugs and handshakes. He had a knack for making his friends and family — and everyone he met, really — feel special and seen.

Earl is sorely missed by all who knew and loved him, but his family takes comfort in the fact that he was cracking jokes and visiting with friends just days before his death, and that he’s no longer in pain.

A memorial and celebration of life will be held at Sarasota National Cemetery on July 23 at 2:30 pm ET. Friends and family who would like to attend virtually can sign up to receive that information here: https://forms.gle/TVoM4JSobsNi4Sux5