J Temple Black died of natural causes on Thursday, May 16, 2019, at his home in Auburn, Alabama. He was 25 days shy of his 82nd birthday. J was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 51+ years, Carol, and is survived by two daughters, Katrin Black of Madison, AL and Lynn Paul (m.
to Brian Paul) of Corvallis, OR; one son, Jay Black (m. to Dana Sorenson) of Bend, OR; and five grandchildren, all of whom live in Oregon. A Professor Emeritus at Auburn University (AU), Dr. Black will be remembered professionally as lead author for DeGarmo’s Materials and Processes in Manufacturing and for his passion in metal cutting and lean manufacturing systems education and research.
He was still actively involved as a guest lecturer in the AU lean manufacturing systems course as recently as fall 2018, and was a great ambassador for the manufacturing engineering discipline. His academic colleagues will miss him dearly. Including his 25+ years teaching at Auburn, Professor Black taught at the university level over a span of 57 years.
J and Carol moved to the State of Alabama in 1981 and became self-proclaimed “born again southerners”. They’d finally found a place to stay put after teaching and researching at seven other universities since they married in 1960. Using the penname/stage name “Jett Black” he composed and recorded music and lyrics for dozens of songs in a style he liked to call “down home music,” and even published a book of poetry “for engineers, from engineers”.
He was especially fond of a good limerick. Publish or perish is an old saw. Some say it’s fable, and some saw it’s law.
So we’ve journals galore That print this outpour, And nobody reads them but Maw. Tennis was a big part of J’s life. He first learned to play tennis while in graduate school at West Virginia University and developed a deep love for the sport.
In 1988, he established the USTA-member Black’s Racquet Club (BRC) in his backyard after building the first-ever clay court in Lee County, AL. East Alabama and West Georgia tennis players have J Black to thank for the rise and quality of the number of clay tennis courts in the area. J and Carol were also great tennis boosters for both the men’s and women’s tennis teams at Auburn and were invited to numerous Grand Slam tennis events by former AU players turned pro.
Being passionate fans of more AU sports than just tennis led J and Carol to be decades-long season ticket holders for football, baseball, and men’s and women’s basketball. J was born on June 10, 1937 in Rahway, NJ to Eileen Miller Black and George Black. His father and grandfather were both railroad men, and J was told that he was named after the “J” Tower on the famous Horseshoe Curve of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
J had many childhood homes, but his favorite was when he lived with his Grandpap and Dutch in Felton, DE. He attended Milford (DE) HS and routinely attended his class reunions, even as recently as his 55th. Dozens of college students, whether AU tennis players or graduate students far from their homes, consider J and Carol to be second parents.
Thanksgiving was always J’s favorite holiday and the BRC hosted a Thanksgiving feast every year. “Once Invited, Always Invited” was their motto. Former guests, if they couldn’t make the trip in a given year, were sure to call on the fourth Thursday in November.
J was an artist at heart and collected or made things out of repurposed items. A steel-banded wagon wheel and dairy farm milk can became a coffee table. Two antique brass fire extinguishers became end table lamps, old Sports Illustrated covers became collages to memorialize sports heroes such as Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas, AU Swimming, and Sir Charles Barkley.
For years, J and Carol sponsored a City of Auburn U-6 soccer team called the War Pugs. Many a 5 year-old hoped to get placed on the War Pugs team and get their team picture taken with KC, VBo or Yogi the Pug. Later in life, after having pug dogs as household pets for decades, breeding and showing AKC-registered pugs became an enthusiasm for J and Carol.
Here again, is a community of people deeply impacted by J and Carol Black. Throughout his life J lived selflessly and sacrificially. He always tried to put his others’, especially those of his wife, needs ahead of his own.
This past March, just hours after being released from his last hospital stay, he was baptized in Christian faith in the presence of 30+ friends and family members. Brother George Matheson, Pastor Emeritus of Auburn United Methodist Church and Dean Collins, President of Point University, presided. Memorial donations may be made to the Carol Strom and J T. Black Scholarship Fund at Auburn University (see below for instructions on how to give).
Two memorial events are planned at this time. One, for members of the manufacturing research community, will be held on June 11th in Erie, PA at the International Advanced Manufacturing Conferences – NAMRC 47/MSEC 2019. The second will be on Saturday, July 27, 2019.
Friends, family, and colleagues are invited to gather in Auburn, AL. More details are coming soon. secure.
auburn. edu/s/1715/giving/form. aspx?
sid=1715&gid=2&pgid=1086&cid=1898&dids=594&bledit=1&appealcode=BLACKSTROMMEM Also, gifts may be mailed to the Auburn University Foundation at 317 S College St, Auburn, Alabama 36849. Checks should be made out to the Auburn University Foundation and indicate it is a memorial gift for the Carol Strom & J.T. Black Endowed Scholarship. Jeffcoat-Trant Funeral Home and Crematory directing.
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