Earl Orrin Jirschefske

Earl "Jeff" Jirschefske was born on December 3rd, 1923 and was the first born son of Otto and Elsie Jirschefske.  He had a sister, Marion and a brother Roy.  His family had a turkey ranch on 8th Avenue in Arcadia.  He grew up helping his family on the ranch. He attended school at First Avenue School in Arcadia and was confirmed at the First Lutheran Church in Monrovia.  He attended Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High School which is now Monrovia High and graduated in 1941.  One of his favorite hobbies was mechanics and he had several cars that he would drive to Pasadena where he and his friends would work on cars together.  He would also like to go to Dry Lakes with his friends and race cars.  He joined the Army Air Corps in February of 1943.  He was a supervisor in the maintenance and repair of aviation radio equipment in the European Theater of Operations and was with the 920th Signal  Company stationed in France and Germany.  He was honorably discharged in January 1946 and returned home to the family ranch.  Earl and friends were spending time in Alhambra where he met Dona Jung and her sister, Virginia.  Dona had a young son named Michael.  Earl and his best friend John would double date Dona and Virginia.  Dona and Earl were married October 16, 1948 at the First Lutheran Church of Monrovia. Dona's sister Virginia married Earl's best friend John Salvinger.  Dona and Earl had three children, Cheryl Lynn, David Brian and Steven Lee.  Cheryl and David attended school at the First Lutheran School.  Dona and Earl were divorced in November 1962.  Earl at that time lived in Pasadena doing auto body repair work and then got a job at the Los Alamitos Race Tracka in 1975.  He moved to Huntington Beach in 1977.  Earl met Rose Allum in Pasadena and they were together until her death in July 9th, 1999.  They had a daughter Lisa Marie March 14th 1969.  Earl retired from Los Alamitos Race Track in 1990 and spent his retirement years enjoying his family and traveling whenever he got the chance.  He got the opportunity to visit Hawaii, Alaska, Niagara Falls, Oregon, Vermont, and several other trips to San Luis Obispo where his granddaughter, Jennifer, attended school.   On holidays and special occasions he would spend time at his son David's house where the family would regularly gather and everyone knew him as Jeff.  He loved to watch sports on TV and enjoyed baseball, football, and nascar.  He enjoyed the VFW in Sierra Madre or Monrovia where he was a member. He would see old friends from Pasadena and talk about the good old  days.

He is survived by his sister Marion and brother Roy.  Also his four children, Cheryl Headrick, David Jirschefske, Steven Jirschefske and Lisa Jirschefske; and five grandchildren:  Kristian, April, Brandon, Jennifer, and Daniel.  He also had two great grandchildren, Ashley and Alicia, which he adored.

The service will be on Friday, September 7th  at 1:00 at the First Lutheran Church of Monrovia, 1323 S Magnolia Ave. Monrovia CA 91016.