J. Robert Jaques

J. Robert Jaques
October 31, 1960 - June 15, 2024
J. Robert Jaques, most recently of Berlin, Germany, died at Exeter Hospital on Saturday, June 15, 2024 after a valiant fight against a recent illness.
The son of Dorothy (Corcoran) and Joe Richard Duncan, Bob was born at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and spent his childhood on the seacoast of New Hampshire and Maine, with short stints in Tripoli, Libya and Peru, Indiana. His family eventually settled in Barnstead, NH, where he wreaked havoc in the woods around Lougee Pond with his four brothers and one sister. Bob graduated from Pittsfield High School as a member of the Class of 1979 and remained in Pittsfield for many years to raise his son, Rob, with his first wife, Katherine.
Bob worked various jobs in his early adulthood, including as a housing inspector, a cable guy, and a substitute teacher, before he joined the technology support staff of the newly opened Bow High School in 1996. While at Bow, Bob fixed innumerable computers, printers and projectors and provided kind, patient, humor-filled tech support to teachers and staff. But he found his true calling in the auditorium, where he proudly ran the sound and lights for countless concerts, shows, and meetings, and where he taught and inspired so many students as they discovered the thrill of being behind the scenes and in the booth.
In 2019 Bob retired from Bow and embarked on a five-year adventure to Berlin, Germany, where he and his wife, Michelle, worked at the John F. Kennedy School, a German/American bilingual community school. Bob had a part time job in the technology department but spent most of his time experiencing daily life in Berlin, which he loved. He turned his American charm on the Germans everywhere he went, from the grocery store to the subway, often with varying degrees of success. He loved striking up conversations with strangers and learning about their lives. He was so interested in the world around him and could spend hours people-watching on a bench in the middle of a little town in Slovenia or Italy, or on the pier in Bar Harbor or Northeast Harbor, Maine.
Bob's heart suffered many medical challenges over the years, but it never lost its capacity to love. Bob always said that his bypass surgery in 2009 opened his heart to love and that is how he found Michelle. They met in the fall of 2009 when she started teaching at Bow High School and embarked on a whirlwind courtship, engagement and marriage that brought them love, joy and many wonderful adventures. He was so proud of his son, Rob, and found joy in their shared love of computers, video games, guitars, and amplifiers. He was thrilled to welcome his daughter-in-law, Theresa, into the family and got such a kick out of the fact that Rob married a music teacher, just like he did.
Bob is predeceased by his father, Joe Richard Duncan, his stepfathers, Perley Goodwin and Harold R. Jaques, and his "best boy", his first labrador, Tucker Currier Duncan Jaques. He is survived by his loving wife of thirteen years, Michelle (Nickerson) Jaques, his son J. Robert Jaques, Jr. (Theresa), his mother Dorothy Corcoran, his siblings J. Richard Jaques, Sr. (Cindi), J. Ronald Jaques (Lori), Robin Joi Heal (Guy), and J. Randall Jaques, his mother-in-law Rev. Cynthia Nickerson, his brother-in-law Marc Nickerson (Erin), beloved nieces and nephews, dear friends and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic, and his sweet labrador, Greta Evelyn Acadia Jaques.
Visitation will be on Friday, June 21 at 2:00pm at Bow Mills United Methodist Church, 505 South Street, Bow, NH 03304. A Celebration of Life will begin at 3:00pm, followed by a reception at the church. Donations can be made in Bob's memory to New England Labrador Rescue at https://www.newenglandlabrescue.com/memorial-donations.