"I am sorry I missed the service. I didn't hear of his passing until seeing the notice in last nights PC News. Please tell Betty I said hello. Jack was a good man. Clark Nickles"
In loving memory of
Jack Francis Box
April 30, 1930 - May 7, 2018
Services to honor and remember the life of Jack Box will be 10:00 AM Friday, May 11, 2018 at South Tulsa Baptist Church.
Jack Francis Box, husband of Betty Louise (Turpen) Box for 70 years, passed away on May 7, 2018. Born on April 30th, 1930, in Shamrock, Oklahoma, son of William Floyd and Mary Agnes (Denny) Box. He married Betty Louise Turpen on December 24, 1947. Jack and Betty lifted both families to new levels by being the first in their family to graduate from high school in Ponca City, Oklahoma in 1947. Following in his father's footsteps, Jack was a self-taught machinist. After earning an engineering degree from the International Correspondence School in 1962 he moved into the Engineering Department at Nickles Machine Shop where he developed and taught the craft of bearing design, founding, and maintenance for large gas compression stations in the US and Venezuela. Jack got his first computer in 1979 and taught himself to write computer code advancing to a TRS-80 in 1983 and was proficient with the computer until about 2015. He and his son Steve managed a stock portfolio using the computer to track performance. He resigned from Nickles April 29, 1985 after 40 years. He and Betty moved to Tulsa where he worked for Big Four Foundry from 1987 until 1991. He founded JB Engineering in 1991 and did contract engineering and drafting work until December 31, 1999.
Jack and Betty met in High School in Ponca City in early 1944 and married in 1947. Dad says that he fell in love with Betty the moment he laid eyes on her. Betty is a native Texan who moved to Oklahoma from Vega, Texas where she was born, along with her mother Violet Turpen in 1944. They had two children, Stephen (Steve) Wayne and Cynthia (Cindy) Dianne Box who also graduated from PoHi. Cindy was a graduate of Northwestern State University in Alva, Oklahoma and worked for the the Department of Human Service in Oklahoma City. Cindy passed in a tragic motorcycle accident with her boyfriend on Lake Hefner at the age of 25 year old on May 22, 1975. They both took her death very hard but Jack was grief stricken as he rebuilt her 1963 MGB sports car as a labour of love. Steve earned a Master's Degree in Environmental Science from Oklahoma State University. Jack and Betty lived in Ponca City and were members of Second Baptist church until moving to Tulsa in 1987.
Jack loved his family and was a good son to his parents, a good husband to his wife, and a good father to his children. The family spent many weeks vacationing on Oklahoma lakes where they would water ski and fish alongside the rest of the Box family. He bought his first ski boat "Cindy Lou" in Perry, Oklahoma and advanced through many boats. He bought a 22 ft Catalina in 1981 ("D" boat), and "E" boat -- named alphabetically for all his boats -- a 14 ft. Lowes fishing boat in 1982. He moved up to "Bettina", a 25 ft Catalina which he sold to Steve. Jack and Steve learned to sail together on Kaw Lake. Jack also took great pride in his cars and his houses.
Jack was a dedicated volunteer at Saint Francis Hospital where he logged more than 8,000 hours, mostly in building a data base system for the library. He became a deacon at South Baptist Church in 2011 and taught Sunday School for many years. He and Betty cared greatly about children and Jack was an ambassador for their care through their charitable contributions to the Oklahoma Baptist Home for Children in memory of their daughter, Cindy.
Jack and Betty moved from their home in Bixby, Oklahoma in 2011 choosing to move into the Country Club of Woodland Hills retirement community. In December 2015 they moved to Aberdeen Heights. Jack developed dementia from a stroke and has been a resident of Aberdeen Memory Care.
Jack is survived by his wife Betty and son Stephen. He has two grandsons, Jason and Kevin and two great grand children, Brittany and Chandler Box. Jack had three siblings, William Michael, Dorothy Dean (Barton)(Living), and Betty Jo Box, He will be buried beside his daughter Cynthia in Longview Cemetery near Kaw Lake outside Ponca City, Oklahoma.
By Steve Box
Tributes
"Steve, what a great summary of Jack?s life! We loved him and your mom. What a joyous time he and Cindy are having right now??"
"Jack was my grandpa and one of the best boaters I ever knew. He taught my father and I most of what we know about boating and sailing. I often tell people I am a 3rd generation sailor thanks to Grandpa Jack. He owned so many boats that he quit naming them and started lettering them the ? A, B, and C boat? respectively. I bought my first boat from Grandpa Jack (the ?G Boat?) for $2 because he insisted I pay for it and be aware that boats don?t float on water but on money$$$! I still love to boat and sail and am in the process of handing down the pleasure and skill of it to my Nephew and Jacks great grandson Chandler Box, the 4th genreration sailor thanks to Jack! I am also inspired greatly in my own marriage by the incredible stability that Jack and Betty demonstrated in their marriage of 70 years. My wife Jennifer and I will be forever inspired to live up to the example that Jack and Betty made for us. Thanks for being the best Grandpa you could be for me Jack! We shared a lot of good birthday cakes together and I will never forget you!!"