Jeffrey Barton Cronk was born October 21, 1942 in Menomonie, Wisconsin to Colonel Jefferson (Army) and Thea Cronk. Jeffrey was born when his father was deployed to the South Pacific during World War II and was their only child.
As an Army “brat,” Jeffrey was in elementary school when his father was deployed to Bremerhaven, Germany. Thea liked to share stories of them skiing in the Zugspitze during school vacations and him speaking German with his Polish maid. Later, Colonel Cronk was stationed in El Paso, Texas, where Jeffrey started high school and played basketball, baseball and football. Jeffrey spent his senior year in high school at the DODDS (Department of Defense for Dependents Schools) in Ankara, Turkey where Jeff got to play basketball and to compete at various sporting tournaments throughout Europe. A highlight was Jeff’s senior class trip was to Beirut, which he fondly remembers as Beirut being the “Paris” of the Middle East.
Jeff spent his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin (U of W), Madison where he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity. While he was at the U of W, the only mode of transport from the East Coast to Turkey, was taking a cruise ship, which took a month to cross the Atlantic and Mediterrean to Istanbul. After his freshman year at Wisconsin, he transferred to the University of Maryland, College Park. Jeff graduated from Lewis and Clark College, in Lake Oswego, Oregon with a BA in 1964. During his junior and senior summers, Jeff successfully completed US Marine Corps officer training and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. Afterwards, Jeff was allowed to attend the University of Oregon (U of O), Eugene for graduate school. He spent two years earning a Master’s of Arts in East Asian studies and spent two years studying Chinese Mandarin and had a solid command of the language.
While at the U of O, he met Elizabeth (Holly) Hess, who was a 5th year college student studying to be a teacher. After he finished his MA, Jeffrey went to Quanico, VA. where he completed USMC TBS. He subsequently married Holly and was sent to Vietnam in 1966. He spent one tour in Vietnam and participated in the 1967 offensive in Khe Sanh where he was a 24 year old Captain and company commander.
While he was deployed, Holly had their first child, Christopher, at the Army base in Monterey, Ca. Jeff returned from Vietnam, and had one final tour as an Officer Instructor at Quantico, Virginia. While separating from active duty, Jeff decided to join the Marine Corps Reserves, where he honorably retired as a Major. Jeff loved the Marine Corps, celebrated the Marine Corps birthday every year, and remembered all of his troops that didn’t survive the war or came home as amputees.
After leaving active duty, Jeff was offered employment with Levi Strauss, and had his second child, Heather, in Amarillo, Texas. Jeff’s next job with Levi Strauss was with the international division, where he worked at the corporate office in downtown San Francisco. He was assigned to Hong Kong where he spent a lot of time setting up a factory in nearby Macau Island. During this time, his last child, Eric was born in San Rafael, Ca.
Levi Strauss transferred Jeff to Southern California and during this time, Jeff and Holly got a divorce. He later met Catherine Bright, who has a son Bobby and they were married in 1987. During this time, he worked for Bechtel engineering company in Mission Viejo before relocating to San Diego where he went back to graduate school and earned a second Master’s of Arts in Public Affairs. Jeff’s last job was as a federal employee working for the Department of Defense as a contract procurement specialist. He retired in 2007.
After retirement, he was an active member of the Shriner’s where he loved to dress up like a clown and participate in the annual 4th of July parade in Coronado Island. Jeff and Cathy helped raise Cathy’s granddaughter, Marie, as a young child until she graduated from high school, in addition to Christina (Marie’s half sister) who lived with them during her senior year in high school and college years. Jeff was very loving and treated Marie and Christina as his own granddaughters. Jeff’s sons Christopher and Eric, each had one son, Max Christopher (18 years old) and Andrew Ronan (5 years old) respectfully.
Taking after his father (Jefferson), Jeff became a Mason and proudly wore his father’s Mason ring until he passed away. A lifelong athlete until his hip replacements, Jeff enjoyed jogging, basketball, and racketball. He loved following sports: Notre Dame, the University of Oregon, and the San Diego Chargers in football. Jeff was also very social and enjoyed the camaraderie of his fellow veterans at the Veterans of the Foreign Wars (VFW). In retirement, Jeff and Cathy, enjoyed traveling with his children in England, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Japan (twice), Bahrain and Kenya. Jeff spent the last two years of his life in the Memory Care facility in Bonita. He is survived by his wife Cathy, three children (Chris, Heather, Eric), Bobby (step-son), two grandsons, Max and Andrew and Marie, Christina and Elizabeth (step-granddaughters).
Jeffrey’s funeral is the 27th at 1:00pm at Glen Abbey in Bonita.
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