Obituary for Jack R. Cory Jack R. Cory, 100, long time Grand Island resident, died Tuesday, September 04, 2018 at his residence at Riverside Lodge. Services will be 10:30 AM Tuesday, September 18th at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. Father Robert Lewis will celebrate Mass.
Burial of ashes will be in the Grand Island Cemetery. Military honors will be rendered by the US Army and United Veterans Honor Guard. Family will greet friends an hour before service time at the church.
All Faiths Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements. Jack was the first born of five siblings to Goldie (Borland) and Merle Cory on April 27, 1918. Raised in Alexandria, Nebraska by parents who ran Cory’s Store.
In high school, he played basketball, excelled academically and in music, playing clarinet in the Fairbury Community Band while winning superior ratings at regional music contests. He was the eldest surviving alumni member of Alexandria High School, class of 1935, at the time of his death. After graduation Jack attended Doane College and then the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
While at UNL he was honored by being chosen as first chair in the Husker marching and symphonic bands. Graduating from the university in 1940, he was one of the first four from Thayer county to enlist in the U. S. Army. It was 1941 and war had just been declared after the Pearl Harbor attack.
He rose in the ranks after attending OCS school to the rank of major. Before his honorable discharge in 1946, he served in General Patton’s 3rd Army, in charge of a medical supply depot. Returning home from Europe, he began his career in business, by traveling eastern Nebraska servicing hardware stores, even owning one for a period in Beatrice, Nebraska, before joining Hartford/St. Paul Insurance Company.
His long relationship with the company earned him many rewards. In 1947 he met Anita Royer, recent widowed wife of Dr. Howard Royer, with teenage daughters, Pat and Janet. It was love at first sight, and they were united in marriage at Saint Stephens Episcopal Church Feb 3, 1951.
Together, they enjoyed fifty-one years together before her death January 4, 2002. Jack will be remembered for his kind heart, keen sense of humor, encyclopedic memory, faith in God, interest in history, loyalty to Husker sports and Grand Island, and love of family. He leaves behind brother, Dick Cory; son-in-law, Dr. Gene Everett; grandchildren, Jana Lee Colbourne and Teresa Everett, Brian Ballard and Brent Ballard; 9 great grandchildren and 10 great-great grandchildren; also, cousins, Dr. Bob Beer, Bill Beer, Jerry Beer, Cindy Beer Ahrens, Jody Beer Griffin.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Anita; daughters, Patricia Everett and Janet Ballard; grandchildren, Stephen Howard Everett and Gina Marie Everett and brother Max Cory and two infant sisters. In lieu of flowers memorials are suggested to the Stuhr Museum Foundation. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Jack R. Cory please visit our Sympathy Store.
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