Jack Jeffery

Jack Edwin Jeffery, 77, of Iola died Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010, at Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center in Chanute.
He was born May 25, 1933, in Chelsea, Okla., to Roy E. and Jessie Grace (Mouton) Jeffery. His father was with Texaco Pipeline and he attended elementary and grade school in Oklahoma, Missouri and Illinois, graduating from high school in Chelsea. He attended Northeastern Oklahoma A and M and Oklahoma A and M (now Oklahoma State University) where he was the first male home economics major.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1956 to 1958 and after his honorable discharge worked in Galesburg, Ill., until the spring of 1959 when he returned to Tulsa, Okla., and married Alberta Borum in September 1959.
He was a decorator for Jack Wills Furniture Store, then owned a hat shop in Tulsa until February 1961 when he became a dress designer for H.L. Miller in Iola. He worked at H.L. Miller until he became owner of Cindy’s Flower Shop. He was a florist until he had a heart attack in 1974. He worked at T.G. and Y. in Iola and then went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he was a buyer for the Paris Shops.
He returned to Iola and worked at Pamida in Chanute, then P.N. Hirsch in Iola until becoming a cook at Allen County Hospital. He left the hospital to open a gift shop and catering business. After his second heart attack, he closed up shop to become an ANW Special Education para professional at McKinley Elementary in Iola. He retired from the school.
He was co-founder of the Allen County Arts Council which is now Iola Community Theater and starred, directed and costumed many productions. He was a member of First Christian Church in Iola.
He was also known as Grandpa Jack at the library where, for years, he had a children’s story hour.
Survivors include his wife of the home; a daughter, Cindy Kress and her husband, Larry, LaHarpe; and a great-granddaughter, Jordyn.
A brother, Roy, died earlier.
Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at Waugh-Yokum and Friskel Memorial Chapel in Iola.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at First Christian Church in Iola. Burial will be in Highland Cemetery.
Memorials to First Christian Church, Iola Community Theater or Friends of the Bowlus may be left at the funeral home. Online condolences for the family may be left at iolafuneral.com.