Jack Whiteside

MY BROTHER JACK Jack was my favorite brother. Ok, he was the only one I had, but I always looked up to him as his baby sister. He was 10 years older than me and my two sisters were older than Jack, so those three kind of were in different worlds but he was always super brother to me especially as a little girl. Growing up as an Army family, we spent lots of time moving. Then moving and moving again. Once I counted we had moved 15 times by the time I was in grammar school. Jack went to high school when we lived in Germany for a few years and I was just starting school. I remember he had lots of friends, especially the girl kind. When we got back to the states, our father had to leave the Army for health reasons. We settled in Campbell. These are the times I remember most. Jack was always working on old jalopies, taking out engines, putting them back and getting all greasy and oily. He loved doing that. One clear memory is on a Saturday late afternoon. Back in those days, hundreds of years ago, all the little kids would get left off at the Campbell Movie Theater. The parents made a get-away and we kids would watch a double feature: first the news, dramatically presented, then a cartoon then the two movies. It was pretty expensive, 50cents, which included popcorn and a coke. Well, this day, I was around 10 years old, I had to walk back home by myself. It was getting dark and I was a bit a scared. It was about a mile to our home. I started out and noticed in the dusk someone walking on the other side of the street. Then he crossed over. I was terrified. It was Jack! He had walked all the way to walk me home. I never forgot that. Later, he got drafted. It was a very scary time then too. I was around 12 and I used to go into his room and touch all his things and pray he didn't have to go and fight in Korea. Somehow a bit of country got into Jack. He enjoyed playing cowboy music all the time, the rest of the family did not share this enjoyment. He bought what could be called a mini ranchette in San Martine sometime after he got married. I was living in Europe for many years and when I came back for visits it was my favorite spot. Very laid-back with various animals like horses and even a steer he raised and had butchered on his property, I wasn't crazy about that but the meat was sure good. It was a place to relax and leave all your cares behind. It was crazy chaotic with relatives living here and there in trailers, a big messy house that sometimes got cleaned to perfection- with most of all that friendly, down home feel to it. We all made a few sibling trips together. Jack was into genealogy with a passion and bored us to tears sometimes, as we weren't, but I am so glad we had those times together discussing our different viewpoints of what really happened when we were growing up, as we all had our own versions. Jack was fun to be around. In these last years, he always came to Santa Cruz where I live, and took me to lunch for my birthday. Jack never complained about anything, he helped a lot of people, out of the goodness of his heart throughout his life. He was the best and only brother lever had. I miss his gentle soul. Baby sister Judy