Jackson Sheadel

Jackson Leroy Sheadel finished his final project on a peaceful afternoon November 17th, 2025. While he was not in his home in Central Point at the time of his death, he left an indelible mark on that place, his family, and special friends. We will miss him, his calm practicality and sense of duty long after his passing.
Born on January 23rd, 1945, in Portland, Oregon; Jack was the eldest child of 11 children born to James Sheadel and Viola Sheadel "Jean" (Haney). Necessity and hard times shaped Jack's early life with the family moving across the U.S. several times before settling on the farm and timber rich valleys of Southwest Washington. It was there that he learned the value of hard work and earning your own way. These were tenets that he lived by every day and expected of others.
Both on the family farm and in the woods, Jack's ability to fix or build just about anything led to a big change in his life: leaving Washington in 1965 to join the Navy and become a Seabee. It began with basic training in Oxnard, California. Then led to two completed tours in Vietnam with NMCB4 as a heavy equipment mechanic. And culminated to his eventual retirement from the military with over 20 years of proud service to our country. His career was highlighted by duty stations in exotic locations, from Japan to Sicily, with stops in Adak, Alaska, The Midway Islands, Hawaii and Antarctica along the way. One of the greatest gifts his family received from him was the opportunity to see the world via his work. Family vacations were epic, and we took full advantage of this nomadic military lifestyle. We were never "uprooted", we simply had another adventure in front of us.
After not ever "darkening" the doors of the high school growing up, Jack was proud of the GED he earned in the military along with many completed college courses. Following his time in the Navy he utilized his GI Bill to earn an Associates Degree in Civil Engineering Technology and at the ripe old age of 45 started a second career as a surveyor working on interesting building projects all over the Northwest until his final retirement in his 60s.
The only thing in his life greater than his love of his family and belief in hard work was his love of the lord. Wherever they lived he also found a church to be a part of and served by either helping out with facility maintenance or volunteering to go out to take care of projects for the church body.
He was well known for his faith in "Jack's" way and figured out a way to solve any problem even if it meant creating his own tool or bringing a long dormant piece of equipment back to life. If you ever had the opportunity to let him borrow something you know it always came back in better shape, then it left. There was no googling a solution for him he just knew a way to get it done and always did. The only thing that seemed to make him happier than a completed project was a day that ended with a chocolate shake or a bag of peanut m&m's.
Surviving Jack in the Rogue Valley is his wife of 52 years, Shirley Sheadel; a son and daughter-in-law Jason and Maralee Sheadel and their children, Madison and Brody and three great-grandchildren; a son and daughter-in-law Brian and Victoria Sheadel and their four children, Brandon, Anna, Han and Finn.
"I would rather be remembered for what I have done and not who I was"
Jack will be laid to his much-deserved rest at the Eagle Point Veterans Cemetery here is Southern Oregon and in lieu of flowers, the family asks that you seek out others in your family or community to help with a project or find a way to support your communities trade opportunities for our youth. "With no doers what will we do?"