Jack R. Wilson

Jack Wilson, 86, passed away Saturday, January 9, 2010, peacefully at his home in Tucson, AZ with his daughter and son-in-law at his side. A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 12:00 P.M. Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at Starks & Menchinger Family Funeral Home, 2650 Niles Rd., St. Joseph. Burial will follow Wednesday at Fort Custer National Cemetery in Augusta, MI. Friends may call from 10:00 A.M. until 12:00 P.M. Tuesday at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to Rotary District 6360 Foundation which helps third world countries purify their water, or donor's choice of charity. Those wishing to sign the memory book online may do so at www.starks-menchinger.com. Jack was the second child born to Raymond and Irene Wilson on January 9, 1924 in Ottumwa, Iowa. He enlisted in the horse drawn artillery at Fort Riley, Kansas at the age of 16 in 1940 in the 2nd Cavalry Division. He served in Europe during World War II as a forward observer in the 9th Armored Division which was the first unit to cross the Rhine River with the capture of the Remagen Bridge. After four years in Europe he commanded an anti aircraft battery in Korea from 1952-1953. Jack married Ursula Schulz of Berlin, Germany on February 2, 1949 in Darmstadt, Germany. They returned to the United States, were posted to Yokohama, Japan and eventually settled in Benton Harbor. During this time they had a daughter Darlene Wilson. On September 30, 1960 he retired from the army and went back to school, graduating with a BSBA degree from Michigan State University. He served as a personnel director for Bendix Corporation for 20 years, retiring in 1984. Jack managed to achieve a life-long dream of earning his pilots license and he was also a 50-year member of the St. Joseph-Benton Harbor Rotary Club. He faithfully attended his military reunions with the 3rd Field artillery in Junction City, Kansas. After his retirement Jack and Ursula traveled extensively around the world. For the past several years they wintered in Tucson, their second home in a community of caring friends. In 2005 Jack helped dedicate a plaque to his old outfit, the Third Armored Field Artillery Battalion, in Fort Riley, Kansas. The plaque cites the Third for repulsing an entire German division during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. That Action earned the Third, along with Combat Command A of the Ninth Armored Division, a Presidential Unit Citation “for extraordinary heroism,” citing the “outstandingly responsive and accurate fire of it artillery battalion.” Jack is survived by his daughter Darlene Wilson and husband Sherman Ampey of Paw Paw; sister Doris sand of Florida; sister-in-law Renate (Gerd) Luck of Berlin, Germany; sister-in-law Bonnie Wilson of New Mexico; and special friends Earlyn and Jim Breeden of Arizona. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Ursula, sister Janet (Wilson) Wagner, and brothers Dean Wilson and Joe Wilson.