Jack, a Sedalia resident for nearly 75 years, was born June 30, 1926 in McCook, Nebraska. In 1945 he moved to Sedalia, having signed on with IREA to help run electric lines across Douglas County. It was shortly after starting his new job that he met and fell in love with a local girl, Shirley Davis, at a Saturday night dance. They married in July 1946 and soon started their family having two sons, J.D. and Tom and one daughter, Ruby.
Shirley realized very quickly what a hard worker Jack was. In need of a home for his growing family, he started hand-digging a basement at the corner of Plum and Clay St., using a borrowed team of horses to haul the dirt away. Working his job during the day, he was able to finish the basement home on evenings and weekends. Over the years the basement was enlarged, and eventually, their dream home was completed as it stands today and where he was able to live until the age of 92.
Not long after Jack and Shirley were married, Jack accepted a position with DuPont in Louviers It offered more opportunity and better pay. By the time he retired 25 years later, he had worked his way up to Foreman of the Power House. Eager to start a second career, Jack and Shirley started their own company...Jax Excavating, Jack running the machinery and Shirley keeping the books. For 30 years, all across Douglas County, Jack installed septic systems, dug basements, built roads, cleaned out corrals, hauled dirt and rock, plowed snow...anything anyone needed. He enjoyed his work, being in the outdoors and especially loved running and working on the large equipment, doing any repairs he could himself!
Always a “putterer” as Shirley would say, he really could fix most anything, and because of his love of “collecting stuff” he always had whatever he needed to do almost any project. Being an eternal perfectionist with patience and persistence to match, any project he did may not have gotten done fast, but it always got done right!
Jack was always a quiet good man, honest and humble, never critical, and slow to temper. His kind ways benefited family, friend, or neighbor alike. He helped Shirley care for both her mother and father in their home until their deaths. Simple pleasures such as fishing, gardening, working on his cars, playing cards, tossing horseshoes, or his favorite, bowling, always made him happy. Thankfully, he was able to continue being a league bowler into his nineties.
“When we were children, Dad would take the three of us kids looking for arrowheads up at Indian Creek. He would forgo his own fishing time on the South Platte River near our family cabin at Deckers (the very same cabin he and Shirley honeymooned at 75 years ago) to bait our hooks, tie new lines, help us cast, or free snags...all while trying to keep three energetic kids from falling into the river. He would take us on long walks down to Plum Creek to wade in the shallow water and look for minnows. He helped give us a wonderful wholesome childhood. And when the grandkids came along he did the same thing, putting them in his lap and letting them “drive” the backhoe around town or giving them a free ride in the scoop down to the lot so they could roll down one of his many dirt piles. And when they got a little older and had sports and other activities, off mom and dad would go so as not to miss anything they might be participating in.”
Sadly, Jack and Shirley’s first son, J.D., passed away in 1982. In 2007 Shirley lost her battle with cancer, and in 2015 Tom passed away after a long illness. However, Jack continued to live in and enjoy his wonderful home that he worked so long and hard to build. He continued to love his wonderful family which now includes 7 grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren, 3 great great (and one on the way) grandchildren, and he of course loved all the wonderful friendships he had built over the course of so many years, not only in Sedalia but all across Douglas County.
