Jack Francis Myers, 84, of The Dalles Oregon, passed away on December 10th 2020 having lived many good years. Our dad went to sleep the night before in his favorite chair with his favorite blanket loving his wife Doris and simply didn’t wake up. He passed peacefully in his home of natural causes.
Jack was born on February 23rd, 1936 to Frank and Myrtle Myers in the Eastern Oregon town of Weston. Jacks father worked repairing farmers equipment in the fields, and like Jack was a “Natural” Mechanic.
The family endured religious persecution and in 1942 when Jack was just 6 years old his mother was jailed for offering someone a Watchtower magazine. She received a 14-day sentence, but after 4 days, the local farmers contributed her bail money calling the situation ridiculous. She was later exonerated of all charges. This was the environment young Jack knew in his early childhood.
His family traveled to Camas Washington later that year for a Bible convention and Jacks mom liked the area so much the family decided to move and settle there.
Jack landed his first job working in a small gas station and spent lots of time in his teenage years keeping the family car running on a shoestring. The family did a great deal of driving in the ministry and in addition to keeping the family car running he was his sister, Juanita’s, “Pioneer Partner” for one whole summer.
They had just enough food to get by and were very resourceful. When the tires on the old Willys car wore through so badly that the inner tubes burst, Jack and his father would go out to where it broke down and stuff newspapers into the tire until it was full and get it back on the road (The original “Drive Flat” tire)
In 1950 Jack met and married his first wife, Shirley. They were married almost 52 years and they raised 5 children together until her death in 2004.
In 2007 Jack met and married Doris and they lived in The Dalles Oregon serving Jehovah together until his recent passing. Dad and Doris were such a team for each other and all the ones they mentored. Their home was always a place you could go to and feel welcome. Often visitors would receive tasty cake or preserves from Doris, and then Jack would offer all the young mechanics in his world, a tool or some small thing that he had cherished.
Jack was described in many ways with merit. He passed down a strong “Work Ethic” to many younger ones. He provided for his family and taught them many an object lesson.
When remembering Dad, the two words it boiled down to was “Peacemaker and Mentor”. His family meant so much to him. He was unendingly proud of his children, other children, the Men he worked with at Aphis Readymix, and George Schmid and sons in his decades of secular work.
We knew that no matter how bad things seemed, he would have a kind word and what our family and the apprentices he taught came to call a “Mentoring Moment”. It started with, “you know I heard a story just like that one time!”
He would then go through several examples of how things might go, and at the end of the story he would say, “I read that in a Book”. If someone asked, he would then tell them it was a Bible principle. Sometimes it pinched, but we knew Jack loved each of us so much that it just felt like a nudge with a velvet glove.
Anyone who knew Jack knew that he was the most loving father and husband a family could ask for. Jack was preceded in death by his first wife Shirley, older brother Jim, and his granddaughter Penny. He is survived by his wife Doris, his daughter Kimberly, and sons Leonard, Daniel, Tim, and Jack. He is also survived by his sister Juanita, and brother Ted, and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Jack and Doris studied the Bible with any who wanted to and helped many to find the answers to life’s big questions. It gave them much joy to see someone read God’s personal name Jehovah in their own copy of the Bible at Psalms 83:18.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers and cards you please visit donate.jw.org and make a modest donation to the worldwide work which supports disaster relief and the preaching work in over 1,000 languages worldwide.