Former resident Jack S. Straub passed away on November 28, 2010 in Miramar Beach, Florida. He was 88 years old.

Jack was born on October 17, 1922 in Hot Sulphur Springs, Colorado, the oldest of four children born to Loraine and Albert Straub. He attended grade school in Cody, Wyoming, where he was an Eagle Scout in Troop 39. His family moved to Laramie and then to Sheridan, Wyoming where he spent his senior year of high school.

It was in Sheridan that he met his wife-to-be and love of his life, Maurine Butler, also a graduate of the Sheridan High School Class of 1940. They were married on August 11, 1945.

Jack joined the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942 and served as a fighter pilot during World War II. As a First Lieutenant in one of the first night fighter squadrons, he and a friend from Sheridan, Bob Wellwood, piloted a Grumman F6F Hellcat, the “Sheridan Belle,” and flew over eighty combat missions, from Eniwetok and Okinawa, in defense of the Marshall Islands. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and seventeen Air Medals, and ended his service in 1953 with the USMC Reserves as a Captain. He was an active participant in the Marine Night Fighter Association and the Emerald Coast Marine Corps League. In April 2008, he had the pleasure and distinction of traveling to Washington D.C. as a member of an Emerald Coast Honor Flight.

Before WWII, Jack enrolled at the University of Wyoming, where he enjoyed his time as a loyal member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.

During his summers, he worked for the U.S. Forest Service and served as a Fire Lookout on Black Mountain in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming.

Through the GI Bill, Jack graduated from the University of Denver as a member of the Class of 1948. In 1948, Jack joined Ford Motor Company in Denver, Colorado. He subsequently served in company offices in Kansas City (Missouri), Detroit, Richmond (Virginia) and New Orleans, before retiring as District Sales Manager in the Philadelphia office in 1980.

During those years of service, Jack developed a love for Southern living, surf and deep sea fishing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and fishing with friends at the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Although he became a Southerner in many ways, he would always enjoy returning to the West to visit friends and family in Colorado and Wyoming, and spending time with the Butlers at their family cabin in the Bighorns, playing cards, throwing horse shoes and fly fishing on the North Fork of the Tongue River. Following his retirement, Jack and Maurine moved to Sandestin Resort in Miramar Beach, Florida.

Throughout his life, Jack was an avid outdoorsman and accomplished hunter and fisherman. Those passions, along with his love of golf, respect for the military and the fine community near “The World’s Luckiest Fishing Village,” made the Emerald Coast a wonderful home. Jack became an active member of the Sandestin Lions Club, playing a variety of leadership roles, including District 35-F Governor, and as a member of the Board of the Conklin Center for the Multihandicapped Blind. In 2003, he was one of five finalists for the distinction of International Lion of the Year. He has been honored by his fellow Lions through the Lion Jack Straub Annual Sandestin Lions Club Golf Tournament,

Throughout his life, Jack was known to be a kind man, loyal and industrious. He was a great organizer of things and people. A Marine’s Marine and a Lion’s Lion. An outgoing and generous member of his community, a dear friend and a loving husband and father. He will be missed by all those that had the pleasure to know and love him during his remarkable life.

Jack was preceded in death by his sisters Jeanne Brooke, of Coarsegold, California, and Patricia Jones, of Jackson, Wyoming.

He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Maurine, his brother-in-law Loren H. Butler, of Sheridan, Wyoming, his sister Sharon Shepherd and brother-in-law Leon Shepherd, of Cortez, Colorado, his son John, daughter-in-law Mary, and grandson Joshua, of Brookline, Massachusetts, his grandson Philip, of Missoula, Montana and two nieces, Mary Atter of Story, Wyoming and Kathy Bosworth of Sheridan.

Jack’s family members would like to extend their deepest appreciation for the warm support they have received from their friends, including the members of Santa Rosa Beach Community Church.

A memorial service may be announced in the future.

Donations in Jack’s name may be sent to the Sandestin Lions Club, P.O. Box 1295, Santa Rosa Beach, FL 32459.

The Sheridan Press - December 4, 2010.