Jack, as he was known to all, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Julius Phillip Betzold and Dortha Josephiine Betzold. He married his high school sweetheart, Elnor D. Engelhard, August 25,1962. Jack continued working for his degree in Mechanical Engineering at what was then Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy and is now the University of Missouri, Rolla, taking day classes there and night classes at Washington University, finally graduating in 1972.
Jack began to work for York in St. Louis in 1969, doing what he loved, selling industrial air conditioning and refrigeration. One of his achievements in St. Louis was winning a refrigeration contract with Anheuser-Busch. His favorite job was converting two 40-year- old chillers at Hallmark Cards in Kansas City to the newest high efficiency chillers, the cost over $400,000.
He continued working for York, many years as a manager, eventually transferring to Southern California in 1992 as an executive sales engineer. He was thrilled to secure contracts for the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Jack had a cardiac arrest in 1997.
He was on life support for two hours and was not expected to live. But he pulled through and continued to work for York for several more years. In 1992 he took a job with a small company Emcor Service, Mesa Energy Systems, winning for them a 10-year HVAC contract for the County of Ventura.
He said his bosses there were the best men he had ever worked for. He retired in the spring of 2008 and he and El began a grand tour, moving from Orange, California to Prosper, Texas, to Hilo, Hawaii, to Orange, California, again, to Frisco, Texas, all places their children were living. Jack worked hard but was always looking for ways to have fun.
He could get his grandchildren excited about a dollar gift. He’d say it was all in the presentation. He was able to make any happening hilariously funny.
One time he had the secretary tell his boss a man named Jack was in the outer office expecting to see him. His boss had no memory of scheduling the meeting but quickly put his suit coat on and was anxiously looking through paperwork when Jack walked in with a giant Jack in the Box head on his shoulders. Jack lived life large and enjoyed taking his family boating and skiing on the lakes and rivers around St. Louis and camping around the country.
He loved long distance biking and racquetball. He was crazy about animals, especially cats. While living in California, he managed to train a scrub jay to take peanuts from his hand.
Jack is survived by his wife of 57 years, Elnor D. Betzold, and his four children, Christine M. Betzold of Garden Grove, California, Karen L. Betzold and Kathleen A. Plack of Glendale, California, and Robert J. Betzold and his wife Laura of Frisco, Texas, and seven grandchildren; Andrew, Nicholas and Thea Chow, Chloe and Heather Plack, and Emily and Isabelle Betzold; and by his brother David and his wive, Eileen of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, his half-sister Kimberly Shaw and her husband Richard of Naples, Florida, and his step-brother Vincent Shocklee of New York, as well as many nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends. Jack’s funeral Mass will be held at St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Prosper, Texas on April 1, 2019, at 11 A.M. He will be buried at Resurrection Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, where this summer we will celebrate his life with family and friends.
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