John "Jack" Burnham Derby Jr.

John "Jack" Burnham Derby, Jr.

February 3, 1927-October 3, 2024

Jack passed away peacefully on October 3, 2024 at Golden Gate Residential Care Home in Orangevale, California with many of his loving family in attendance. He was 97 years old.

Born in Paso Roble, CA on February 3, 1927, Jack was the second and final child born to John Derby and Ethel Botts Derby. His family, including his older sister Dorothy "Dorie", lived in rural countryside on a small property and then later in town. His early years of schooling were in a one room schoolhouse.

The Derbys were very close with the Gerst Family (through marriage on his mother's side). Jack and Dorie spent much of their free time with their best friends Tom and Bill Gerst. The Gersts maintained an almond and walnut orchard on their ranch, and many days and weekends were spent at the Paso Robles property. The families loved to travel to Big Sur, the Eastern Sierras, and the California Coastal Range to fish, hunt, pan gold, and camp. All four of the children continued school together and remained lifelong friends before Bill, Dorie, and Tom preceded Jack in passing.

After high school, Jack enlisted in the US Army at the end of WWII, but was not deployed before the war ended. He attended several colleges as he initially pursued a general education including many creative writing courses. Later, he graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Civil Engineering. He credited his professor T.L. Lin's renowned expertise in reinforced concrete building/bridgework as a crossroads for his future work as a Civil Engineer.

To make ends meet, Jack also spent a summer working in Alaska and a year as a coordinator of surveying on the Pacific Atoll of Enewetak. These were formative experiences for him that allowed many interesting stories in his later life. While in the Marshall Islands, he loved to dive for exotic shells and fish with locals in the crystal-clear waters. He spent time on nearby Bikini Island when he was tasked to solve a mathematical/surveying problem that the coordinator there was having. Later, back on Enewetak, he witnessed the infamous "Bravo" thermonuclear bomb blast on Bikini. The bomb was one of the most destructive and dangerous above ground blasts of all times and Jack said it looked and felt like the world was going to end, even from so far away. Jack would later return to Bikini in 2005 at the age of 78 on a flyfishing trip.

Jack's father passed away at age 60 from a heart attack while he was overseas and his mother passed later around 1962 from heart disease when he was back in the USA. By then, Jack had finished his schooling and taken a job as a civil engineer for the California Department of Highways, later known as CALTrans. He met and married Marilyn Ann Jones and they had three boys, including fraternal twins James "Jim" and Brian, and their youngest son, Craig. The twins were born in 1961 while Jack and Marilyn were living on Partington Ridge in Big Sur. Jack was working on the Bixby Bridge construction on Highway 1 of the California Coast. Craig was born in 1965 after Jack transferred to CALTrans Headquarters in Sacramento, CA. Jack had a distinguished career of over 40 years working in various positions including as a traffic engineer, the California Ride-sharing Coordinator, in Local Assistance Projects, and then teaching adjunct classes as a retired annuitant. He received a commendation from President Carter for his work as California's Ride-sharing Coordinator. Jack and Marilyn divorced in 1980.

Shortly thereafter, Jack met and married Ellen Keefe and became an integral part of her family, which includes Ellen's adult children John, Paula, Anita, and Matthew "Matt". As the Derby and Keefe families grew, Jack became grandfather to Jim's children Scott, Danielle, and Steven; Paula's children Tresa, Stratford, Drayton, and Britannia; Anita's children Joseph "Joey" and Merissa, and Matt's children Tanner and Kelsey. Jack would later become great grandfather to June, Grace, Element, Aurora, and Sylas. He also had close relationships with family spouses, extended family, and special friends including, but not limited to Ellyn Derby, Terry Clotiaux, Lisa Wyatt, Bruce McDannold, Clyde Sturgeon, Jeff Perry, Devon Keefe, Joe Studebaker, Stephanie Kitts, Michael Kurdziel, Catherine Barone, Alex Bushnell, Karralynn Keefe, Lowell McGranahan, Trevor Gutierres, niece Marjorie "Marji" Luther, Debbie Phelps, Kim Costner and the Costner Family.

Apart from his work, Jack was an avid outdoorsman. He kept up a lifelong love of fishing and hunting which took him all over the state, the country, and even internationally. He deer hunted as a young man with his uncles and father and harvested his fist deer at the age of 12. He was an excellent shot and secured 3 trophy bucks on various trips with friends and family to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. Later in life, he returned to duck hunting and spent countless hours in the refuges and a duck blind north of Sacramento. He was up early, energetic and hunting during early hours when many people were still sleeping in. However, his biggest outdoor love was fishing. He was happiest when fishing with family and friends whether at small Sierra lakes for trout with the boys and Marilyn, from a boat for salmon on the Sacramento River with his friend Ray, trolling on a lake for trout, Kokanee, or bass fishing with the grandchildren or Bob Costner, or catching trout from a houseboat on Shasta Lake with the guys on the Fall trip. He enjoyed fishing with the couples on the Spring houseboat trip, catching trout in Sierra lakes with a bubble and a fly, and going to more exotic locales with Craig, like Alaska, Christmas Island, British Columbia, or Bikini. Finally, Jack was also an avid backpacker (and horse packer) and hiked the Chillkoot Trail in the Yukon, The Golden Trout Wilderness, Evolution Lakes Valley on the John Muir Trail, and Virginia Lakes of the Sierras as some of his more interesting trips. He often combined his love of photography with his trips and has taken beautiful photos, especially in the desert Southwest areas of Antelope Canyon, Buckskin Gulch, and the Wave.

Jack made friends easily and he and Ellen enjoyed countless trips and adventures, golfing, skiing, sailing, square-dancing, house-boating and camping with their wonderful friends that included the Bordens, Pavetti's, and Seaverson's among others. Jack had a golf group with the guys, played frequently with Ellen and family, and kept a regular bridge group. He was part of the Sons of Retirement (SIRs) group for state workers, serving in leadership at times as both Big and Little SIRs, and coordinated their newsletter for years. He also volunteered frequently for the Sacramento Jazz Festival where he worked the door at the Firehouse venue. Jack and Ellen were part of the 49er Ski Club and traveled all over the Western USA and Canada with the great friends they made. They loved skiing at Whistler, Banff, Lake Louise, Big Sky, Mammoth, and many of the ski resorts in Colorado and Utah. Jack kept skiing until he was 83 years of age.

Jack was a loving and dedicated family man. He loved to teach and was always ready to help with homework, Scouting activities, and teaching his children and grandchildren to fish. He was the Cub Scout Pack Leader, a Webelos Den Father, and led the formidable "Derby" racing team during annual Pinewood Derby events. He coached Little League baseball, spent hundreds of hours during the summer taking the boys to the local pools to help them become good swimmers, to the river to fish or hike, playing ping pong, building a koi pond, playing cards like gin rummy or board games like Monopoly and Life. He was quick to praise his and other's children, instilled confidence, belief, and optimism, and you always knew that Dad/Mr. Derby cared about you. He struck a great balance wanting you to have fun, but also be successful in your endeavors. This love and dedication extended for generations and he adored his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He wanted to be part of their lives, take them fishing, bake elderberry pies with them, see their graduations, and spend time with them at family holidays and parties. He also was a stalwart participant at the monthly Birthday Dinner at The Spaghetti Factory for the Keefe side of the family.

Raised during the depression, Jack was "sneaky tough" and moved past most of life's inconveniences without complaining. He had open heart surgery with 8 bypass and angioplasty at age 57, but went right back to his robust lifestyle. He was a prostate cancer survivor had a second open heart surgery around in his late 70's, a major stroke at age 86, a broken femur at age 93, Covid multiple times and fought off a heart attack/pneumonia/congestive heart failure exacerbation in March of this year. He was not going to slow down or stop living any more than he had to and continued to find joy in every day no matter what limitation or ailment he was battling. In fact, his motto was always "Making Good Use of Time" and he was a wonderful role-model for that philosophy.

During the last 10 years of his life after his stroke, Jack required some extra help since he could no longer drive or do everything he could before. Along with all of his family and friends, Jack was especially fortunate to have outstanding help and truly special bonds with Karralynn Keefe, Britannia Bushnell, and Debbie Phelps. These three not only helped get him to his appointments and assist in his care, but facilitated his continuing zest for life with outings, hikes, baseball games, lunches, dinners, and loving support.

Perhaps Jack's greatest gift was the life lessons he taught us. Along with the caring, toughness, joy in experiences, and having fun, Jack instilled strong morals, values, and work ethic. He cared about what was "the right thing to do", "looking out for others" and acting with integrity. He held himself to high standards and in that way led by example. He was a loyal and loving husband to Ellen for over 40 years and a dedicated father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend.

Although this remarkable man is no longer here with us, he will live on in all of our hearts.

Rest in peace Dad/Grandpa/Jack. We will truly miss you.