Forest Park Chapel

Shirley was born on Nov. 1, 1935, to Joseph W. and Effie (Johnson) Tackett. Shirley attended Alamo Elementary School, Mount Ida High School and some high school in Idaho. After moving to St. Louis, Mo., she met her future husband, Robert (Bob) Jessie Johns. They were married on Feb. 3, 1955, and were together until his death in 2006. Shirley and Bob loved to travel and made many trips through America, Mexico and Europe. Shirley graduated with an Associate of Science in Nursing from St. Louis Community College at Forest Park in 1970. After graduation, she began a long career as a registered nurse in the St. Louis area until she retired in 1995. Shirley worked for many high-profile people, including August Anheuser "Gussie" Busch Jr., owner of the St. Louis Cardinals and Anheuser-Busch Companies.Shirley and Bob were both licensed ham radio operators and enjoyed visiting with people in many countries around the world. After retiring, they moved to Hot Springs to be closer to family and to enjoy a slower pace of life where she enjoyed her great love of fishing at any of the surrounding lakes. She also volunteered her time at St. Joseph's Hospital and actively participated in the local women's Country Club. She was also a great cook and prepared wonderful meals for family and friends at her beautiful home near Lake Hamilton, where everyone was always welcome. Shirley and Bob were also members of Crossgate Church in Hot Springs, where they shared their love of Jesus Christ. Shirley was loved by many and will be greatly missed.Shirley is preceded in death by her parents, Joseph and Effie (Johnson) Tackett; her husband, Robert Johns; her son, Steven R. Johns; her five brothers, Cecil, Jake, Jewel, Burleigh and Denver Tackett; and her sister, Doris (Tackett) Wyatt.Shirley is survived by her brother, Fairrel Tackett (Phyllis), of Federal Way, Wash.; her daughter, Paula Campbell (JB), of Hot Springs, Ark.; four grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews."For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither an...

An elevated wedding chapel that more closely resembles a futuristic spacecraft from the cartoon show than a traditional church could be coming to downtown Buffalo, if Harry Stinson gets his way.The new owner of the former Adam's Mark Hotel is proposing to erect the chapel – one of Wright's last designs that was never built – and connect it to the facade of the enormous Church Street hotel as a separate building.Stinson plans to decorate it with actual interior features and furnishings from a Wright-designed home in Minneapolis, while offering newly married couples a ride in a 1958 Austin Princess – the same model year that Wright designed the chapel for a California hotel."It is extraordinary how much awareness it has generated all over," Stinson said.This is the latest example of Wright aficionados using earlier designs to build on the legendary architect's existing legacy in Western New York, which already hosts Wright's Darwin Martin House and Graycliff estate. In recent years, Forest Lawn Cemetery completed Wright's Blue Sky Mausoleum, while the West Side Rowing Club erected his Fontana Boathouse - both using plans drawn up by the architect when he was alive more than a half-century ago.The idea for the chapel came about by coincidence last summer, when James Sandoro – a historic car buff and owner of the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum – was visiting the Buffalo Grand with his own architect. Sandoro had built a Wright-designed gas station inside his museum, and suggested a "crazy idea" to Stinson: he knew of another uncompleted Wright design, for a chapel that would be connected to a hotel.Wright had designed it in 1958 for the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, Calif., but he died shortly afterward "and the plan fell by the wayside," Stinson said. It was designed to be linked to a hotel's porte cochere, to "stick out from the hotel as a trophy in front," but Stinson found it would work in his planned location as well.The original chapel design by Frank Lloyd Wright. (Image courtesy of Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation...