Obituary

Christopher Scott Stiles, 77, a St. Petersburg native and descendent of three of Pinellas County's pioneer families, passed away in his St. Petersburg home Sunday, July 3. He was born on October 12, 1944, at Mound Park Hospital. The family of his great-grandmother, Mary Hammock Griner, arrived in the area by covered wagon in 1867; his grandfather, Herbert Beers, was co-owner/operator of the Williams Beers Ice Company, which he founded in 1920 with St. Petersburg pioneers Horace Williams Sr. and Horace Williams Jr. Stiles attended North Ward Elementary, Mirror Lake Junior High, and Northeast High School, graduating in 1962. He played on the Webb's City Little League team and the St. Pete Little Major League All Star team, which won the state championship in 1957. His Northeast High team won the state title in 1962, defeating future Major League Hall of Fame pitchers Steve Carlton and Don Sutton. He was a member of the NEHI Athletic Hall of Fame. Stiles went to Duke University on a baseball scholarship. There he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1966, was a member of the Air Force ROTC and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. After graduating, Stiles served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Vandenberg AFB, California. He was honored as Junior Officer of the Year in the worldwide Air Force Satellite Control Network and was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal. A Professional Engineer, Retired, in the State of Florida, Stiles worked for Florida Power Corporation for 25 years and as a consultant in the energy field. He became business manager for the Holland Knight St. Petersburg and Bradenton offices. He proudly served on the Board of OneBlood, formerly Florida Blood Services (FBS), for 25 years. In 2010, Stiles was instrumental in the negotiations that formed Creative Testing Solutions, a partnership between FBS and Blood Systems in Phoenix, Arizona, to form the nation's second largest blood testing lab. Today it has grown into the largest blood testing lab in the country, testing over 75% of the U.S. blood supply in eight regional labs nationwide. In 2012, while Chairman of FBS, he participated in the negotiations that resulted in the merger of the three largest blood centers in Florida. Florida Blood Services, Florida Blood Centers, and Community Blood Centers of Florida joined together to form OneBlood, which is now one of the largest blood centers in the nation. He was an active member of St. Thomas' Episcopal Church for over 60 years and served on the Vestry and as Senior Warden. He was also a Lay Eucharistic Minister. He was the son of Sanford Harvey Stiles and Dorothy Beers Stiles. Survivors include his junior high girlfriend and wife of almost 57 years, Elizabeth Cutler Stiles; daughter, Allison Stiles Marshall, St. Petersburg; son, Scott Sanford Stiles (Sonja), St. Petersburg; and four loving granddaughters: Lane Elizabeth Marshall, Meredith Arquette Marshall, Caroline Marie Stiles and Natalie Ellen Stiles. He is also survived by his sisters Tracy Stites (Ray) of Spring Hill and Laurie Dietrich (Paul) of Brooksville. A service will be held on Saturday, July 16, at 11 a.m., at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg. A reception will follow in the Parish Hall. For those unable to attend, the service will be live streamed on the St. Thomas' website (www.stthomasstpete.org, Facebook link on lower right corner of ). In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Thomas' Episcopal Church Memorial Fund / Video Ministry, 1200 Snell Isle Blvd. N.E., St. Petersburg, FL 33704 or to OneBlood Foundation, Inc. (Attn: John Murphy, President/CEO), 8669 Commodity Circle, Orlando, FL 32819. Donations of blood to OneBlood would also be welcomed.