JOHN R. "JACK" BABSON

My eulogy at Jack's Funeral. (Kathryn Brewer)
How to live to 95 years old

1. Spend your childhood summers hiding from bears, shooting bows and arrows and traveling by canoe. Get really good at it.
2. Love athletics and sports. Be a team player. Play to win. Find a favorite sport, like hockey, to devote yourself to passionately, but in the off season, play any game that needs an extra athlete. And play like it is your favorite sport.
3. Build your immunity to alcohol and smoke so that it never affects your health in any way. Keep up your contrarian lifestyle choices until your doctors begin to doubt the accuracy of their expensive education. Cheer them up by inviting them out for a drink.
4. For the men: Love golf. If you can figure out golf you can figure out anything. Except women. But never give up on women. Appreciate their beauty every where you go. When your mobility or vision fails, get a good camera. With a zoom lens.
5. Learn something totally useless, and do it better than anyone. Jack was a trick Yo-Yo champion. He could perform the sleeper, walk the dog, rock the baby and go around the world like it was his job.
6. Have a great sense of humor and share it with everyone you meet. Be extra generous with your family.
7. Master the fun and surprise of a really good prank. Get really good at it. (About 15 years ago we all spent Christmas in Steamboat. It was Jack, his 2 kids, 6 grand kids and 3 dogs. Knowing there is no better gift than the gift of laughter and no better expression of laughter than a prank. We all woke up Christmas morning, excited and eager for presents, to fling open our doors and hurry to the tree. But, we didn't have to get all the way to the tree before appreciating our present from Jack. Which came in the form of a pile of rubber dog poo right outside our bedroom door!)
8. Travel the world. Jack went to China in his late 80's. And as recent as a 2 years ago he travelled to Camp Mishawaka for the Centennial where he was a living legend.
9. Take on a big cause. Give yourself to it. Jack was passionate about Global Water, serving for 10 years as executive director for Global Water a non-profit focused on creating safe water facilities for rural villagers in developing countries, saving lives by providing access to safe water. Like Jack, if we do Gods work on earth well and consistently, we get to stick around.
10. Lastly, have an exceedingly handsome family. Take full credit.

I have known Jack Babson almost 30 years and have always admired his dedication to helping people around the world. He was Executive Director of Global Water for over 10 years, an organization that I co-founded in 1982. I have talked to Jack every few weeks for the last five years and saw him in Washington DC on March 22, 2010 (see photo section). I was shocked and saddened to learn of his passing just a day after I talked to his son. I will sorely miss him. My wife Christel and I send our most sincere condolences to his family.

you will be missed