Obituaries / LJWorld.com

Obituaries

A Mass of Christian Burial for Col. Jack C. Gentry, 79, O’Fallon, will be at 9 a.m. today at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in O’Fallon. Burial with full military honors will follow at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Mo.
He died Monday, Feb. 7, 2011, in Belleville, Ill.
He was born June 22, 1931, in Manhattan, Kan., the son of Frank and Dee Dodson Gentry.
Mr. Gentry entered the Air Force in September 1954 after graduating from Washburn University in Topeka, Kan. He earned graduate degrees from George Washington University and Auburn University.
He served as an education officer in Iceland, Vietnam, Germany, the Air Force Academy and the Pentagon, among other locations. Among his decorations were the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star. He was a professor of aerospace science at Kansas University from 1979 to 1982. Following his retirement from active duty in 1982, he taught Junior AFROTC in Westminster, Colo., from 1984 to 1989.
Mr. Gentry was a member of St. Nicholas parish in O’Fallon. He was also a member of the Military Officers Association of America, the Washburn University Alumni Association and Alpha Delta fraternity. He loved to fish, was an avid sports fan and took great pride in his home and yard.
He married Miriam Youngkamp Gentry on Sept. 3, 1955, in Topeka. She survives.
Other survivors include two daughters, Marcia Richardson and husband Tom, New Braunfels, Texas, and Gail Daniels and husband John, Lawrence, Kan.; a son, Daniel Gentry and wife Leigh Anne, O’Fallon; grandchildren Andrew and Emily Richardson, Grace and Eleanor Daniels, and Laura and Jack Gentry; and two great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers, Don and Frank, Topeka, Kan.; and a grandson, Joseph Gentry Richardson.
A visitation was held Thursday at Wolfersberger Funeral Home in O’Fallon.
The family suggests memorials to the Foundation Fighting Blindness, P.O. Box 17279, Baltimore, MD 21203-7279, or to the Lupus Foundation of America, P.O. Box 631047, Baltimore, MD 21263-1047.
Online condolences may be sent at wfh-ofallon.com.