These words very much describe the life of Harry Jaffers -- a life of meaning, and purpose; a life of faith, patriotism, and love. A life ended unexpectedly in Austin, Texas on June 12, 2022 when Harry left us to be with the Lord. He was 95 years old.
Harry was born on December 15, 1926 in the small town of Concrete, Washington. His parents, John and Paraskevi (Anasis) Jafferies,--translated from the Greek Tzaferis-- were Greek immigrants from the Aegean island of Samos, who married in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and settled on a farm outside of Concrete. When they were not in school, Harry and his younger twin sisters, Tina (Fotina) and Kay (Katherina), helped their father on the farm and took care of its animals. Their father also worked at the local Portland cement factory which stood on hill above Concrete and dominated its landscape and its economy. Harry often recalled the constant noise from the plant and the cement ash and dust that were always everywhere. On weekends the family would sometimes visit Greek friends and attend Orthodox Church services in either nearby Bellingham or eighty miles away in Seattle.
Concrete is located in the Northern Cascade Mountains, and young Harry and his friends frequently went hiking, camping, and fishing throughout the region. During one summer vacation Harry signed on as a Fire Observation Ranger at the nearby Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest where he worked and lived in a high observation tower. “Looking over the forest expanse”, he said, “was like viewing God’s paradise”.
Harry attended Concrete High School where he was a four-sport letterman (baseball, basketball, football, and track), served on the student council, worked on the school newspaper and yearbook, played in the orchestra, acted in plays, and was a member of the National Honor Society. When he graduated in 1944 he was the class president and the salutatorian speaker at commencement. He was also one of the school’s most popular students. (It was during high school when Harry arranged to change the family name officially to Jaffers thus ending the confusion over the different ways Tzaferis had been translated on various documents).
As members of the “Greatest Generation”, as Tom Brokaw described those who grew up in the Great Depression and served in World War II, Harry and several of his friends enlisted together in the US Navy after high school. While waiting for orders, he worked alongside his father in the cement factory until he reported for duty in November, 1944.
After basic training at Great Lakes Naval Station in Illinois, and further classes at Wright Junior College in Chicago, Harry shipped out from San Francisco for deployment in the South Pacific, where he later said, he was almost always seasick. Fortunately his eventual assignment was shore duty on the Island of Guam and he was there when the war ended in 1945.
He returned to America, in July, 1946, was honorably discharged as a Seaman 1st Class, and soon enrolled on the GI Bill at the University of Washington in Seattle. At UW he majored in electrical engineering, was a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and because he never liked the Navy, joined the Army Air Corps Reserve Officers Training Program (ROTC). (In 1947 the Air Corps was separated from the Army. It became the US Air Force.) To help with his expenses, Harry worked at his godfather’s bar and tavern which was located in the area where Amazon now has its world headquarters.
He also attended St. Demetrios Church where he was a member of the church’s youth group--the Young People Order-- and participated in the church’s basketball program. It was at a church social event after a basketball game, that Harry met his future wife Angelica Mootafes, who had recently moved from St. Louis with her sister and mother. Following a whirlwind courtship, Harry and Angie were married in 1947, and Angie, through her employment at Alaska Steamship Company, helped support Harry during his college years. In 1949 their daughter Teresa was born, and two years later Greg joined the family.
In June, 1951 Harry received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) degree and was also commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force Reserve. He worked for a short time at an electrical firm in Seattle but soon decided to make the Air Force his career and in October reported for active duty.
Although America was then involved in the Korean War, Harry’s first assignment was at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base outside of Dayton, Ohio. This was the home of the Air Technical Intelligence Center which was initially established to study crashed Soviet aircraft from the Korean War, but later also analyzed reported UFO sightings through its top secret Aerial Phenomena Group. (In later years whenever Harry was asked about UFO’s, he always said that he believed they were real and created by intelligent beings.)
He worked in procurement and completed a series of courses at various air bases around the country-- taking classes in such subjects as guided missile control and guidance, airborne electrical engineering, advanced procurement procedures, financial management, and officer development. He also completed an engineering class at the University of Denver. In 1955, as a First Lieutenant, Harry was selected to attend a four month course for junior officers at the prestigious Air University’s Command and Staff College, at Maxwell Air Force Base, in Montgomery, Alabama. In addition to his military duties, Harry in his spare time would often fix cars, and to supplement his income in support of his growing family--Rebecca was born in 1952, and Damon in 1956-- he worked for a local dairy where he drove a truck selling ice cream to neighborhood kids.
In February, 1957, Harry received his first overseas assignment, and the family traveled to Japan on the USS General Mann, one of the first naval ships transporting dependents across the Pacific. Now a Captain he was stationed at Tachikawa Air Base just outside of Tokyo and served in the 6100 Support Wing which, among its other duties, was also responsible for base communications. In addition to the required military courses he took to improve his leadership skills, Harry, during the next two years, completed four Japanese language classes and became one of the very few officers in Japan who spoke Japanese fluently.
When the family first arrived, at Tachikawa, the Air Force was in the process of expanding the base’s runways into the nearby neighborhood, which would have involved the confiscation of farmland and the eviction of 140 families. For many months protesters had opposed the effort which was known locally as the “Shunagama Struggles”. Eventually the plan was abandoned, but the protests highlighted the country’s increasing opposition to all US military installations, and in 1958 led to a revision of the US-Japan Defense Treaty. The demonstrators, and the “Yankee Go Home” signs, hardly affected the Jaffers, who unlike other military families, lived off base surrounded by Japanese neighbors. Although the children attended the base school, most of their playmates and friends were Japanese. The family attended services and Sunday school conducted by the base’s Russian Orthodox chaplain and occasionally also worshiped at the Holy Resurrection Japanese Orthodox Cathedral in central Tokyo. On holidays and vacations the family utilized transport and sometimes visited Okinawa, Hong Kong, or Taiwan.
After 4 1/2 years at Tachikawa, Harry was next assigned to Mountain Home Air Force Base, southeast of Boise, Idaho. Promoted to Major, he served as Complex Coordinator of the Air Research and Communication section. At the time Mountain Home was the Headquarters of the 9th Strategic Aerospace Wing which controlled the base‘s three recently constructed Titan 1 ICBM missile sites. When Henry arrived he completed an intensive missile familiarization program on the base and in Denver where the missiles were built. Angie and Harry enjoyed their time at Mountain Home because they were only a day’s drive from their families in Seattle, and the Jaffers and their relatives were often able to visit each other.
Harry’s next assignment, beginning in early 1962, was a return to Maxwell Air Force Base where he was again selected to attend the Air University’s Command and Staff College - this time for a yearlong degree program that prepared officers for senior leadership positions. (Attending this school is almost always a prerequisite for attaining a rank greater than major.) When Harry completed the program in June, 1963, he was awarded a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from George Washington University. His last class was “Management Aspects of National Secrecy”.
Harry then was stationed at nearby Keesler Air Force Base outside of Biloxi, Mississippi, where he served on the staff of the 81St Training Group. It was, and still is, the largest electronics training school in the world with over 30,000 students enrolled each year. The family lived in Alabama and Mississippi during the height of the Civil Rights movement and witnessed increasing demonstrations against segregation, the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, and “Freedom Summer” in Mississippi. In 1965 Archbishop Iakovos, who had been Angie’s priest when she was growing up in St. Louis, joined Dr. Martin Luther King and John Lewis in the historic March from Selma to Montgomery. As a result, both the Holy Trinity Church in Birmingham and the Annunciation Church in Montgomery, where the Jaffers had worshiped, sustained some physical damage by those who did not approve of Iakovos participation with Dr. King.
In 1964 Harry was ordered to the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., where he served for the next eight years. He completed executive courses in missile and space indoctrination, and data management automation, attended numerous scientific seminars, and completed an American University post-graduate course on the management of government finances.
His duties included working with NATO, as a member of the Steering Committee in the Intelligence Working Group. He frequently traveled to NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, and to military installations throughout Europe, including to those in Greece. Thus began his many visits to Samos, meeting his relatives, perfecting his skills in Greek, and beginning his lifelong interest in exploring his family genealogy. Harry and Angie bought a house near the Pentagon in Fairfax, Virginia, where over the next few years they hosted many foreign senior military officials-- many of whom became their friends. Among them were the Air Attaché at the Greek Embassy, General Konstantinos Chatzilakos, and his wife Maria-- the sister of Harry’s future friend in Austin, Van Voutsinas. In 1965 Harry and Angie’s youngest son, Alex, was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, Harry in 1967 became the Assistant Executive Director, Research Operations, Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Among his duties was determining how the Air Force’s research grants would be awarded to colleges and universities. He frequently traveled to campuses across the country and particularly enjoyed meeting with engineering professors. When he finished this assignment in 1971, his citation stated that Harry “contributed significantly to the advancement of basic research for the Air Force and the Department of Defense”. Early in 1972, Harry completed a cryptologic familiarization course for senior officers at the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade, Maryland, and then served as a liaison between that agency and the Air Force until he received orders to again deploy overseas.
His next duty station was Clark Air Base, in the Philippines. Harry, Angie, Damon, and Alex arrived there in the middle of 1972. Clark played an important role in America’s efforts to win the Vietnam War, and later after the US left Vietnam, in the settlement of thousands of refugees who had fled the country after the Communist victory. Harry was involved in both missions.
As the commander of the 1961st Communications Group during the later stages of the war, Harry, now a Colonel, facilitated military communications throughout Southeast Asia, and often traveled to Vietnam, Thailand, and Singapore coordinating the efforts of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Harry was also the coordinator of the Pacific Military Altitude Reservation Facility Mission (PMARF), which regulated high altitude air space among thousands of military and civilian aircraft in the region. A superior officer impressed with Harry’s work with the limited resources he had available, commented that Harry, “can do anything with nothing!”
Even prior to the collapse of the South Vietnamese government in April, 1975, refugees began arriving in the Philippines, either by sea at the US Naval facility at Subic Bay or by air at Clark Air Force Base. In early April the Air Force began what was called “Operation Baby Lift”. Nearly 3000 orphans were gathered in Saigon, flown to Clark, processed there, and then transported to Los Angeles for adoption. Harry and other high ranking officers at the base volunteered their time and effort to help with the chaotic situation that resulted. (One of the first flights from Saigon crashed soon after takeoff and 78 children were killed). Angie did her part too as she organized the wives and spouses to gather food and clothing for the children, and helped in any other way that she could.
The Jaffers were also involved in Orthodox missionary efforts in the Philippines. At the time there was no church in the country and they petitioned the Greek Archdiocese in America and the Ecumenical Patriarchate to send missionaries. In 1989 a church was finally established. An Orthodox Chaplain was stationed at Clark, so the family was able to attend services there.
In mid-1975 the Jaffers returned to the United States and Harry was assigned to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas. He became the Deputy Chief of Staff, Communication Electronics, for the 12Th Air Force, which at the time was headquartered at Bergstrom. From the early 1960’s until 1987, the 12th Air Force managed most of the Air Force’s tactical fighter, reconnaissance, and airlift operations. As part of his duties Harry also oversaw the training of all Air National Guard Combat Communications and Tactical Control units in the United States, and he regularly traveled to assess their readiness. The citation that he received for this work stated, in part, “that the training opportunities he established enabled Air National Guard units to achieve goals previously unattainable”, and, “the high reputation these units now enjoy is in many ways the result of his strong leadership provided by Colonel Jaffers”.
When Harry and Angie arrived in Austin they worshiped at St. Elias Antiochian Church which then was the only Orthodox Church in the city. Harry often served on the parish council and was a major participant in its Lebanese (now Mediterranean) Festivals. The Jaffers also were members of St. Sophia Church in San Antonio, and worked in the church’s “Funstival”, one of the first Greek Church festivals in America.
Surrounded by his family, Harry was honorably discharged from the Air Force in a ceremony held at Bergstrom in November, 1981. At the time he was the Air Force’s most senior colonel.
Angie and Harry then decided to remain in Austin where they continued to be active in community and church activities. Harry enrolled in real estate classes at Austin Community College and enjoyed looking for investment opportunities all over central Texas. He was one of the founding members and stewards of Transfiguration Church, helped acquire the present church property, served on the parish council-- he was one of its first treasurers--and through the years was on several church committees. He regularly traveled to Greece, continuing his family genealogy studies in Samos and in other parts of the country, and frequently visited the Monasteries at Mt. Athos where he often engaged the Monks in lively conversations. He also enjoyed worshiping at Holy Archangels Monastery in Kendalia.
He was generous with his time and willing to impart his knowledge to friends and acquaintances starting their own businesses or had problems with their current one. Even in his late 80's he offered engineering advice or fixed a broken machine somewhere. He said such activities, “keep me young”. He also traveled to Seattle several times to help Angie’s sister Dorothea transition into assisted living, and to assist her in the repair and sale of her home, and then later to handle all the funeral arrangements when she passed away.
Harry is survived by his children, Teresa I. Jaffers, of Palm Springs, California; Dr. Gregory J. Jaffers and his wife Robyn of Temple, Texas; Rebecca P. Jaffers, of Fairfax, Virginia; Damon P. Jaffers, of Austin, Texas; and Alex Jaffers, of San Diego, California; by his grandchildren, Jon N. Jaffers and his wife Danielle, Mason P. Jaffers, and Maxwell B. Jaffers, all of Temple; and Stephen Larralde and his wife Tiffany of Riverside, California; and his great-grandchildren Logan B. and Payton B. Jaffers of Temple; and Dylan Larralde, of Riverside, California.
Harry also had a special place in his heart for grandson G. Neil Jaffers whose untimely death he deeply mourned.
A viewing and Trisagion service will be held at Cook-Walden Funeral Home, 6100 N. Lamar Blvd. Austin, on Friday, July 1, 2022 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The funeral will then take place at Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church, 414 St. Stephens Road, Austin, on Saturday, July 2, 2022 beginning at 11:00 am, with Father Vasilios Flegas presiding. Stephen Larralde, Max Jaffers, Mason Jaffers, John Skevofilax, Dennis Phocas, and Steven Kalpaxis will serve as pallbearers. Following the funeral a Makaria luncheon will be held next door in Tabor Hall. Burial will be with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.cookwaldenfuneralhome.com for the Jaffers family.
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