Jack Lesh

1922 - 2021

Jack Lesh passed peacefully at home on the Salmon River in Gustavus on February 21, 2021 at the age of 98. He was born July 10, 1922 in Oak Park, Illinois where he and his family lived through his school years. He attended Antioch College in Ohio, where he met and fell in love with fellow student, Sally Townsend, whom he married in 1942. A year later he was drafted into the Army just before his first child was due to be born. In the ensuing years Jack and Sally had their first five children, moved at least six times from one Army base to another, then to Columbia University for medical school on the GI Bill. After graduating he took advantage of an offer from the Air Force who would pay him while he did his medical internship in return for one year of service, moving first to Lansing, MI and then to Spokane, WA. After those commitments were satisfied in 1952 they drove back across the country to settle on Cape Cod where he opened a private medical practice, and where three more children were born.

By 1960, with eight children ranging from age 2-16, Jack and Sally were growing weary of life in the fast lane and wanted the family to experience real wilderness living. So they bought a school bus, converted it to hold a large family and drove and camped across Canada to Alaska. Finding a job in the wilderness proved difficult so eventually they settled in Juneau where he practiced medicine at the Juneau Clinic and St. Ann's Hospital. Shortly after arriving in Juneau they took the family on a short trip to Gustavus where they camped on the bank of the Salmon River. This was the wide open space they had been looking for and they began to spend summers there, finally moving permanently to Gustavus when they bought the Gustavus Inn in 1965.

Struggling to make ends meet with a new business in a remote location, Jack held jobs with the State of Alaska Public Health Service and with SEARHC in its formative years, traveling for work and going home whenever he could. As tourism increased and the Gustavus Inn's reputation for good food and generous hospitality grew he was able to remain at home full time. Jack and Sally spent summers running the Inn and often traveling in the winter months; Jack had studied and become fluent in Esperanto and they visited Esperantists around the world. Finally, wanting more time to travel, they sold the Inn in 1975, keeping it in the family, and moved to their tiny cabin by the Salmon River.

Over the next few decades Grandpa Jack, as he was known to many, could be found guiding kayak trips, building his house, owning a hardware store, working at the Gustavus Inn again, running a second hand shop, working in his bicycle repair shop, patching up minor wounds or setting broken bones, teaching Spanish, gardening, growing berries and trees, volunteering his services to the community, and was always willing to lend a hand or a tool to a neighbor or give advice to a newcomer. He and
Sally often traveled with his three siblings and spouses on one of many Sibling Safaris, or spent winters exploring in Baja.

Sally passed away in 2011 and Jack spent the next ten years reading, studying Spanish, puttering in the yard and hosting daily afternoon tea to family and friends, always with family living nearby or traveling to visit regularly.

Also preceding him in death was his son Peter, and sisters Ruth Deglon and Jeanne Jeffers. He is survived by his brother Don Lesh of Arizona; children Michael Lesh (Marline), Jon Lesh (Carolyn), Jim Lesh (Melanie), Dave Lesh (JoAnn), Sally McLaughlin, Betsy Lesh and Tom Lesh; former son-in-law Tom McLaughlin; and his especially beloved eighteen grandchildren and twenty-one great-grandchildren.