John Charles Teagarden was born in Jefferson, IA, Oct. 18, 1948, son of the late Wilbur and Gladys Potter Teagarden. He was welcomed by sister Ruth and brother William. Soon brother Joel joined the gang, followed 10 years later by Baby Janna. John was soon nicknamed Jack, or fondly, Jackie, by his mother.
Growing up in Grand Junction, Jack, a red-haired, left-handed tyke, joined his brothers and friends in many adventures. Sports were an early love, especially baseball. He played from morning until night on the local diamond and every Little League team available.
In 8th grade Jack met Frani Norgren. High school sweethearts, Jack and Frani were married Oct. 22, 1966.
By then the Teagardens had moved to Boone, so Jack and Fran also lived in Boone. Jack finished high school while working nights at the Heinrich Envelope Company as Fran worked on his homework. In May 1967, they welcomed daughter Kerry Beth.
That summer Jack joined the Boone High School baseball team. Jack played catcher on the team, which won the Iowa High School State Summer Baseball Championship, of which Jack was very proud. He played semi-pro baseball and fast-pitch softball with the Rippey Demons and the Boone Merchants for several years as well as the Boone Junior College team.
Jack attended Boone Junior College, graduating in 1969. At that time, Jack began working at the Rolfes Company in Boone as a draftsman. He worked for several companies before joining The Bratney Company in Des Moines. There he became a project manager and an expert in dust control for seed and grain facilities. He traveled the Midwest for multimillion-dollar building projects and he devoted his career to this work, commuting to Des Moines for more than 30 years.
In 1973 Jack and Fran welcomed son Kevin John. In 1975 the family moved to Grand Junction when Fran took a teaching job at East Greene High School. They bought a late 1800s “fixer upper,” and Jack began fixing it up in his “spare time” while the family lived in one room upstairs. Jack destructed, plumbed, wired, dry walled, leveled, painted, constructed, and on and on until the house was done. One of his best qualities was finishing a job he started, personally and professionally, no matter the obstacles.
Jack loved his kids and was so proud of them. He followed all of their school activities, teaching them to shoot a basketball, pitch a softball, and hit home runs as well as how to water and snow ski. The family loved spending a week at Okoboji every summer and ski trips to Minnesota and Colorado. He later became addicted to golf and would golf at Lakeside from dawn to dusk every weekend. Kevin’s move to Arizona to work in the golf industry led to golf trips there for several years.
Jack also adored his grandchildren. He was proud and thrilled to be Grampa to Sara, Ben (who got Grampa’s red hair AND left-handedness), Seth, Chloe, and Abby. He spent hours playing ball with them and thrilled them with a trip to Disney World in 2006, enjoying it as much as they did.
Jack retired in 2013 and he and Fran celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in October 2016. Jack began to develop memory problems, and in 2017 received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. In August 2018 he moved to Rowley Masonic Community’s memory care unit where he resided until his death.
Jack is survived by his wife Fran, daughter Kerry (Andy) Juhl , and son Kevin (Melinda); grandchildren Sara, Ben and Seth Juhl and Chloe and Abby Teagarden; siblings Ruth (Roger) Underwood, Bill (Mary Micol) Teagarden, Joel Teagarden, and Janna (Craig) Coffman; loving in-laws, nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.
Funeral services will be held Monday, December 3, at Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home in Jefferson. Burial will take place at a later date at Rippey Cemetery.
