Vern Juenke

1925 - 2018

Vern Juenke

Reno - Vern Stanley Juenke died peacefully on September 28, 2018 at the age of 92 with his wife Irma by his side. He was born in Provo Utah on December 20, 1925 to Elsie and Henry Juenke. Vern spent his childhood with his brother, Arnold and his dad, fishing and camping. His family moved to Culver City, CA where he attended Venice High School and studied machine shop, metallurgy, and heat treating. He was always very interested in accurate shooting. It was no surprise that he achieved the level of Expert Marksman using an M1 Garand rifle shortly after joining the US Army.

Vern found himself deployed with General Patton's 94th infantry division where he was an infantry rifleman assigned to take all of the ground back that the Germans took during the Battle of the Bulge. Wounded in action during a combat patrol to secure a small pine forest, Vern was flown to the 48th general hospital in Paris where he fully recovered. He was awarded the Purple Heart and was honorably discharged.

After the war, he decided to become a gunsmith. His brother just opened a gun shop and sporting goods store in Santa Monica, CA so Vern began working with him at Saturn Custom Rifle. Using his knowledge of metalworking, Vern made several chambering reamers for a new line of rifle cartridges known as I.C.L. or Increased Capacity Load. These cartridges became world famous and Vern even worked on a rifle for Gary Cooper among other famous people who had their favorite safari rifles made at Saturn Custom Rifle. It was also during this time in Santa Monica that Vern became interested in electronics and taught himself how to build his own remote control aircraft, radio transmitters and receivers. He built several of these electronic systems for his friends who also flew model aircraft and floated model boats. It was during these years that Vern met his wife Irma and they married in 1948.

In 1954, Vern and his brother moved the gunshop and sporting goods store to Reno Nevada and located it downtown on Commercial Row. Shortly after he moved to Reno Vern went to work for Nevada Air Products as a research and development engineer. Nevada Air Products won a contract from the U.S. Navy to design some components for their first nuclear submarine. Vern thought of a way to create a new tuner for the radio on the sub and his design was awarded a U.S. Patent. The Navy was very happy with his design and it was used with great success. While working at Nevada Air Products, Vern designed and built the first all-electronic slot machine which had only two moving parts, the coin payout hopper and the coin acceptor. This new slot machine was so revolutionary and ahead of its time that acceptance was poor and only one was made. This slot machine is currently owned by the family as a cherished treasure.

In 1978, Vern and Irma moved to their current home just west of Reno and together they opened a new gunsmithing business. All these years, Vern continued to be obsessed with shooting and doing it accurately. They named this new company, "The Accuracy Den". Some very well known people continued to walk through the door, most of which will remain nameless except for one, Paul Revere. Did you ever have the opportunity to watch Paul perform with his band, "Paul Revere and the Raiders"? The pistol he used to shoot that annoying little monkey slamming the cymbals together had a custom trigger job done by Vern.

Vern was an accomplished gunsmith and marksman known worldwide for his skills, his accuracy, and his engineering talent. Perhaps one of Vern's most famous inventions is the I.C.C., the Internal Concentricity Comparator, also affectionately known as "The Vern Juenke Machine". This world famous device allows the examination of bullets to show the tiniest of internal flaws, which would cause the bullet to fly inaccurately after leaving the muzzle. Used by many famous marksmen and even some governmental agencies, the I.C.C. was instrumental in drastically reducing group sizes and breaking many world shooting records.

Another of Vern's passions was attending the Reno Championship Air Races and watching the WWII Unlimited aircraft with his son Kenny. Together, they never missed filming and photographing the races while sharing stories of his time in Europe during the war.

Vern is survived by his wife Irma of seventy years, four children, Kathy (Tim) Janke, Colleen (Tom) Lumpkin, Kenny (Lori) Juenke and Patty (Russ) Gray, seven grandchildren Cliff (Callie) Janke, Brad (Theresa) Janke, Tamara Halterman, Will (Tamra Hopkins) Lumpkin, Jessica (Eric) Tinajero, Sara & Adam Gray and eight great grandchildren Maya Janke, Briona, Drake & Cale Tinajero, Tegan & Leila Janke and Louie & Leo Lumpkin.

He will continue to be in our hearts as his legacy lives on. We will always miss this war hero, husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather.

Taps will sound at the Northern Nevada Veteran's Memorial Cemetery in a private ceremony. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Honor Flight Network