John Ellsworth Jobson

Jack was born in Hartford, CT, January 3, 1927, to Archie and Marjorie Jobson. He met his first wife of 50 years, Helen Pavlo, when they were both students at the University of Connecticut, and they were married September 4, 1948. Together they had four children, John Christopher Jobson, Christine (Thomas) Ponikiski, Mary Lynn Henry, and Peter (Joyce) Jobson.

During World War II, Jack served in the Navy on the U.S.S. Bennington aircraft carrier. After the war, he earned a degree in Dairy Science from UConn and worked briefly as a service rep in the feed and seed industry. He then made a career pivot and started working as an Inland Marine underwriter with the Aetna insurance company. (He later explained, “I got the job because I knew something about chickens and at the time, the Aetna was beginning to write poultry insurance.”) During his 35 years at the Aetna, he transferred briefly to the Texas office, then to Colorado, then back to Connecticut, where he eventually retired in 1991.

For many years, Jack was active in Boy Scouts and the Navy reserves. He loved cars. (He got his first car, a 1939 Studebaker, as soon as he got out of the service and ferried his UConn friends everywhere.) When Jack and Helen lived in Denver, they took up square dancing, joined square dance clubs, and danced for the rest of Helen’s life. Jack also loved camping and later in life Jack and Helen got into motorhoming. They were active in the Family Motor Coach Association and traveled to more than 20 rallies all over the country. Friends were a big part of Jack’s life. He maintained friendships over decades and decades with people from his childhood, his Navy days, UConn, square dancing, work, motorhoming, and more. Oh, and he also raised turkeys in his spare time.

After Helen died in 1999, Jack found love a second time with Joyce Sager whom he met at his ice skating/coffee club. They married in 2003. Joyce expanded Jack’s family with her sons Glenn and Rodger and her daughters Lori and Lynn, along with their families.

Jack and Helen had four grandchildren (Karen, Jenn, Danny, and Emma) and four great grandchildren. Kit, Peter, and Nora have been joined by Miles John, who was born September 26, 2023, coming into this world just as his great grandpa was leaving it.