Jack M. Proffitt

Jackie Melvin "Jack" Proffitt October 6, 1942 - February 14, 2016 Jack passed away on Valentine's Day with his family by his side. Jack was born in Portland, OH to Charles Melvin Proffitt and Delcie Ester Cleek Proffitt. He was raised on a farm in Meigs County and attended school in Racine, OH until his senior year. The family then moved to Stewart, OH, where he graduated from Rome Canaan High School in 1960. He lived and worked on a dairy farms all through school and then joined the Navy shortly after graduation. He was stationed at the North Island Naval Air station in California when he met and married the love of his life, Ruby. Their daughters, Jackie and Kristie were born in Coronado, CA and then, Jack was transferred to Whidbey Island, WA in 1964. Ruby's family was from the Wenatchee/Chelan area so Jack was able to meet her side of the family during his last year in the Navy. When he was discharged in July of 1965, they packed up the girls and drove back to Ohio to live. Soon after they moved back to Ohio, Jack attended the State Patrol Academy and became an Ohio State Highway patrolman. He worked at that job for two years and then moved on to the Swanton, Ohio Police Department. While living in Swanton, their third daughter, Delcie, was born in Toledo. In 1969, they decided to make a change and drove back to Wenatchee. Jack's first employment, after moving to Wenatchee, was with Alcoa. Around 1972, he started working at Pepper's Chevron on Wenatchee Ave. He managed the station for Jim Pepper for about 17 years and eventually owned his own Texaco station at Fifth and Mission and later purchased the Texaco station in East Wenatchee at Ninth St. and Valley Mall Parkway. Being a certified mechanic, first working on airplanes in the Navy and then hundreds of customer's cars in the Wenatchee Valley, he left an impression on many people of the hard worker that he was. While running the Texaco in East Wenatchee, he and Ruby bought the Apple Valley Golf Car business in 1995 and ran it until 2002. That introduced him to the world of "golfing". He enjoyed taking long weekends in January with a couple of buddies and went golfing in California. After retiring from working on cars and golf cars, he worked for a time as Security at Kegler's Casino at Eastmont Lanes. Jack enjoyed the outdoors and especially during the fall when he hunted deer and elk. He raised German Shorthair dogs and took them many times bird hunting over in the Quincy and Moses Lake areas. He also fished at many of the local lakes and eventually spent about three years fishing for the USDA. Jack always enjoyed going to various auctions which led to him volunteering to be the auctioneer at family reunions. He was a pretty good cook and grew a lot of his own herbs for added flavor in his favorite dishes. Jack was preceded in death by his parents and his sister, June. He is survived by his wife, Ruby; daughters: Jackie (Randy) Browning, Kristie Taylor, and Delcie Proffitt; four grandchildren: Kayla and Colleen Taylor; Rylan and Rayne Browning; sisters, Judy Bruce and Joyce Ann Glasgow; brothers, Jay and Jerry Proffitt and many nieces and nephews. A Memorial Service will be held at Telford's Chapel of the Valley, 711 Grant Rd., E. Wenatchee at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 5, 2016. A Celebration of Life will follow at the N. Central Educational Service District building at 430 Olds Station Rd. in Wenatchee. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the VFW Post 3617, 211 - 11th Street. N. E., East Wenatchee, WA 98802. Arrangements are assisted by Telford's Chapel of the Valley, East Wenatchee, WA.