James E. Jacques M.D.

1931 - 2022

Dr. James Elwood Jacques "Doc" of Tawas City joined our heavenly Father and his beloved wife, Barbara, on Jan. 14, 2022, at the age of 90.
Doc was born in Saginaw, to Henry and Vera Jacques on June 16, 1931. He graduated from St. Andrews High School in Saginaw in 1949 and played on the high school football team.
Doc graduated from the University of Michigan in 1953 and went on to graduate from the University of Michigan's Medical School in 1957 and afterwards completed a one-year internship at St. Luke's Hospital in Saginaw. In-between, he married Barbara Jacob on November 26, 1953.
Doc spent a lot of time in Sand Lake growing up at his family's cottage which was the reason for him to move to the Tawases in the spring of 1958 to start up a general practice office with Dr. Larry Kelly, a classmate. Doc's Uncle Ted Jacques, who owned the local funeral home and Hugo Keiser, owner of the drug store, were instrumental in recruiting Doc to the area. Doc continued his practice with Dr. Kelly and then Dr. Sharma until he became the vice-president of medical affairs at Tawas St. Joseph Hospital around 1988.
During his practice, Doc was on-call for the emergency room, answered house calls, administered anesthesia until a fulltime anesthetist was recruited, delivered babies and performed C-sections, plus many other general surgical procedures such as hernias, appendectomies and tonsillectomies to name a few. Doc was also the first medical examiner in Iosco County retaining that position from Jan. 1, 1973, until Dec. 31, 1994.
He has been a member of the Kiwanis Club, the Tawas Area School Board, the Elks Lodge and Moose Lodge. He semi-retired at the age of 65 but continued to assist in surgery and work part-time in the St. Joseph Hospital Clinics until he reached the age of 83.
Doc was an avid reader, loved his many dogs and walking them daily, vegetable gardening, enjoyed deer hunting with a bow or rifle and spending as much time as possible at hunting camp with his family.
Doc was preceded in death by his loving wife, Barbara; and his only brother, Ted Jacques. He is survived by his five children, James Jr. (Kristine) of Clarkston, Michael (Cindy) of Tawas City, Mark of Pine Island, Fla., Julie (Brad) Potts of East Tawas and David of Tawas City. He and Barb were blessed with 16 grandchildren, Sarah, Michelle, Joseph (Aimee), Jacob (Leanna), Joshua (Martha), Benjamin (Beth), Carly (Sam) Lixey, Ryan, Tyler, Jillian Potts, Jenna (Jordan) Miller, Breanna Magallones, Jamie, Luke (Casey), Olivia and Heather; 11 great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Per Doc's wishes cremation has taken place and a celebration of life will be held at 11 a.m. with visitation with the family at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 18, at Holy Family Church in East Tawas. Memorial contributions are suggested to the Iosco County Animal Shelter. You may want to send condolences at www.bureshfuneralhomes.com.