John “Uncle Jack” Douglas

John E. “Uncle Jack” Douglas, 99, a former resident of Coal Valley, Illinois, passed away on Monday, December 21, 2009, at Hope Creek Care Center, East Moline, Illinois.

Services are 11 a.m. Wednesday in the Celebration of Life Chapel at Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Coal Valley. Burial is in Greenview Memorial Gardens, East Moline. Visitation is one hour before the services.

John Earl Douglas was born September 24, 1910, in Seaton, Illinois, to Harry Clayton and Zella Chambers Douglas. Jack married Betty Jane McClean of Quincy, Illinois, on December 13, 1945, in Rock Island, They’d met at Servus Rubber where they worked together and later retired together. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary before Betty passed away on September 9, 2006.

Jack had 12 classmates in his high school graduating class. They called themselves “The Dirty Dozen”. Jack was a track star in high school and still had a couple of the medals he’d won. Ladies, if all men of Uncle Jack’s age run true, then you should be aware that your suspicions are correct: yes, they are all interested in women “all the time” age does not matter. If Jack saw a woman who he thought was attractive, he’d say “Say now”; and if he saw one that wasn’t to his taste he wasn’t beyond remarking about her shortcomings. Gone is the “geesy-peesy” and the “beautiful, beautiful” which Uncle Jack liked to say. He also claimed to “like his hamburgers with only pickle and his hot dogs with only ketchup” and then add, “and my bed with a blonde.”

Uncle Jack had wonderful stories of his childhood and his family. He remarked one day that he looked forward to seeing his mother again so he could tell her he loved her. He said he didn’t think he told her he loved her enough before she died.

At his death, Jack was the oldest Douglas ever of his family. He once said, “I keep this up and I may just reach 100”, and then he added, “That’d just be my luck.” Jack survived all of his immediate family except one brother, Ray Douglas of East Moline, Illinois. Preceding him in death were his parents; four brothers, Robert, Glen, Floyd and Elmer Douglas; and two sisters, Elizabeth Douglas and Fern Epperson. Jack and Betty had no children, but they had quite an extended family of nieces and nephews who cared deeply for their Aunt and Uncle. Among those mourning locally are nephew Robert Roselle and his wife Evelyn of Colona, Illinois, and niece Jill Mueller and her husband Fritz of Milan, Illinois, who were active caregivers.

We were all privileged to have Jack in our lives and will miss him a lot. Our comfort is that love never dies, so it is not “Goodbye, Jack”, it is “We’ll be seeing you.”

Share a story about Uncle Jack or light a candle in his memory atTrimbleFuneralHomes.com.