My favorite memory of Jack happened while I was living in New Zealand nearly six years ago. Jack was telling me that he looked forward to going to his class reunion every year. He enjoyed catching up with his his old classmates and learning how they were treating their life. He explained to me that there were only three classmates remaining. And that was including himself! He had recently come from the annual class reunion and shared with me, ' I am looking forward to the next one. I wonder who will be left next year.......... ol' Jim wasn't looking too good.' And with that we both chuckled. That was the sense of humor Jack carried.
He looked forward to living life. He loved gardening and always sent visitors with freshly picked lemonades in hand. (Yes, they have lemonade trees in New Zealand. Looks like a bumpy lemon, tastes like homemade lemonade inside.) His house in Tauranga, NZ was the first house built on the block and so the street was named after him. He looked forward to something, whether it was going to church on Sunday, baking his own bread or spending time with his cat. Jack lost sight in his right eye when he was only 19 years old while clearing away thick thorn bushes from the lush New Zealand landscape. He drove until he was 93! Jack Merrick was a polite gentleman. Always waving as visitors drove away from his home, until all that was left to the human eye was a speck in the distance. Jack is survived by two remaining children, many grand children and great grandchildren.
If I were to guess, Jack was most likely the last person to survive in his class.
