Jack Magruder, 1935-2024

• Jack Magruder, 1935-2024
• Sue Magruder, 1932-2021
• Tillman Comstock, Jr., -2011
• Phyllis Comstock, 1931-2021

Jack with Governor

Willis Jackson Magruder, 89, of Kirksville, Missouri, died Sunday, November 17, 2024 at his home in Kirksville. Jack was born on Wednesday, August 7, 1935 in his grandmother’s home in Lentner, MO, the son of Charles Franklin Magruder and Jewell Maude Wood Magruder.

When he was 7 years old the family relocated to Kirksville to take advantage of higher education for their children. All five siblings, beginning with the oldest sister, would eventually graduate from what is now Truman State University, as had Jack’s grandmother in the 1890s.

Jack’s first memory in Kirksville is of riding his bike on campus in front of Kirk Memorial. He thought it was the most beautiful building he had ever seen. All his family “old ones” had photos taken in front of Kirk Memorial for special occasions. Years later his oldest grandson would hold his wedding reception in that building.

Jack graduated from Kirksville High School with the Class of 1953 and was a proud member of the 1950 Kirksville Tigers football Hall of Fame team. As a senior in high school Jack joined the US Naval Reserves with his classmates and friends, Don Noble and H.A. Lindberg. They served together until their honorable discharges in May 1961. Jack remained active in class reunions for 71 years and cherished his special life-long friendships.

After high school graduation, while standing in the summer class registration line for Northeast Missouri State Teachers College, he met a beautiful young woman named Sue Brimer. On their first date Jack told her that he was going to marry her and that he dreamed of someday becoming a science education professor at the college. Two months later, on August 4, 1954, they were married at First Baptist Church in Kirksville.

Even before his graduation from Northeast Missouri State Teachers College in 1957, Jack began his career as an educator teaching math at Hurdland and Kirksville high schools. The next several years were spent moving around the country (Iowa, Colorado, California, Louisiana) while Jack pursued his Masters and Doctoral degrees, Sue taught elementary school, and they grew their family. In 1964 the family returned to Kirksville where Jack had been offered a job teaching in the science division at Northeast Missouri State College, fulfilling that dream he had shared with Sue on their first date. For 22 years Jack taught Chemistry and Science Education in the building now known as Magruder Hall. In 1986 he became Science Division Head, later Dean of Instruction and Vice President of Academic Affairs. As President (1994-2003), he led the name change to Truman State University.

In 2008 Jack was named President of A.T. Still University in Kirksville, MO becoming the only president of both Kirksville institutions. He retired from ATSU in 2012. Jack then returned to teaching chemistry at the Kirksville campus of Moberly Area Community College in 2014.

In 1966 Jack and Sue built their house in the country east of Kirksville on what is now known as Willis Creek Ranch. There they welcomed generations of students from around the world, and countless gatherings of friends and family. They raised their family with superb love and dedication, leaving a legacy of faith, hope, and love.

Jack was skilled both in riding and driving teams of horses. For decades he cherished time spent with his brothers, Charles and Mitch, riding horses and camping together for ‘Guys Weekends’. Jack also shared this love of horses with his grandchildren; teaching them to ride, carrying them on sleigh rides in the winter while dressed as Santa Claus, and entering parades with them filling the wagon waving flags. His horses were such an important part of his life that they participated in special events at Truman. Frosty, his white mare, was present at the dedication of Magruder Hall and Governor, his beloved palomino, attended Jack and Sue’s retirement reception at the backyard of the Truman President’s house. His love of horses and the rural lifestyle led to his appointment by Governor Jay Nixon to the Missouri State Fair Commission. Jack and his family made many memories through the years enjoying campsites side-by-side at the Missouri State Fair, a legacy that continues with the next generation.*

In 1992 Jack heard the song “Look At Us” on the radio and hand copied the lyrics in a love letter to Sue. He was correct that their love was the embodiment of the song – and that love lives on.

Look at us after all these years together.
Look at us after all that we’ve been through.
Look at us still leaning on each other.
If you wanna see how true love should be then just look at us.
Look at us still believing in forever…
If you wanna see how true love should be then just look at us.

Jack and Sue dedicated their lives to education and service to others. Together they taught young-married and college-age Sunday school classes for many years in the churches they attended, including First United Methodist Church where they were members since 1989.

Jack’s toughest battle began in 1987 when he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and given a minimal chance of survival. Throughout 2 years of grueling treatment with radiation and chemotherapy, he never stopped working as Science Division Head, often returning to the office each morning before driving to Columbia in the afternoon for treatments. While always a man of deep faith, this time in his life refocused him on what was important in terms of his love of family, friends and his relationship with God. He stated, “I would never want anyone to go through that, but I feel it enriched my life greatly in the end.”

He distilled his faith in a handwritten note in the margin of his Bible near the passage “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:35-39):

“Forgive everyone everything every night”

Jack brought out the best in everyone he encountered. All would rise to what he saw in us. His gratitude, generosity, kindness, and joy overflowed right up to the end of his life when medical personnel remarked in astonishment that he was “the most thankful person they had ever met”.

Jack was preceded in death by his beloved wife of nearly 67 years, Sue Brimer Magruder, in May 2021. Also preceding him were his parents, Charles and Jewell, and his siblings, Marjorie Magruder Glass, Carolyn Magruder Baughman, Charles Magruder and Mitch Magruder.

He is survived by 3 children, Julie Beth Magruder Lochbaum, Kerry Vaughn Magruder (Candace), and Laura Ellen Magruder Mann (Marvin). Grandchildren include Rachel (Stephen) Folmar, James (Rojina) Lochbaum, Hannah Magruder, Anna (Matthew) Matheney, Jackson (Brianna) Mann, Susanna Magruder, and Jonathan Mann. Great grandchildren include Maverick Mann, Aasha Lochbaum, Carlile Mann, Ethan Folmar, Rosa Lochbaum, and a 6th (baby Mann) on the way.

Funeral service will be Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 1:00 pm at First United Methodist Church in Kirksville followed immediately by a graveside service. A public service of remembrance will be held on Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 2:00 pm in the Student Union Georgian Room at Truman State University.

Pallbearers are James Lochbaum, Stephen Folmar, Matthew Matheney, Jackson Mann, Jonathan Mann and Zac Burden. Honorary Pallbearers are Brian Degenhardt, Pete Detweiler, Marvin Mann, Matt Matheney, Dorothy Munch, Bob Nothdurft, Mary Rhodes Russell, Margaret Wilson, and Heinz Woehlk.

Instead of flowers the family requests donations be made to the Sue & Jack Magruder Scholarship fund at Truman State University, the A.T. Still University Jack Magruder Memorial Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Symposium award, or First United Methodist Church in Kirksville.

* Personal note: The obituary is severely edited; we could have written a book. We deliberately avoided name-dropping, such as recounting when Dad met Pope John Paul II or Lech Wałęsa came for dinner. But even with the down-to-earth mentions, which capture what really matters, we wanted to say so much more. For example, three more “horse” examples, among hundreds we might have listed: (1) Dad rode Banjo, the first horse born on the property, 120 miles to Jefferson City MO as part of the 1976 US Bicentennial Wagon Train. After Banjo’s death, Dad prepared four plaques with Banjo’s horse shoes, one for him and one for each of us kids, using slabs of beautiful walnut from a fallen tree near the creek. To this day, I treasure that plaque in our bedroom. (2) One winter when I was barely a teen, Dad bought a share in 100 head of cows kept on a neighbor’s property a couple miles or so farther out from town. Every afternoon that year he and I would saddle up horses to go check on the cows. In case there might be sufficient time after they were all fed and accounted for, I kept a pair of ice-skates in the saddlebags to go out on one of the ponds (it was colder back then). Later, I realized we weren’t doing this for the money; Dad was doing it to spend time with me and to share with me his love of horses. To create time for ranch activities is one of the reasons Dad taught 7:30am chem labs all those years. (3) During his week of hospice care, grandson Jackson — the latest “horse whisperer” in the family — brought Zeus by to check on him. This magnificent horse wanted to come in by Dad; Jackson had to hold him back.

Zeus, checking on Dad

• • Saturday, November 23, 1:00 p.m.: Funeral service, First United Methodist Church, Kirksville. This service will be livestreamed from the FUMC Facebook page. Graveside service at Highland Park cemetery immediately following. All are welcome. Facebook video (with comments). Youtube video (without comments):

• Sunday, November 24, 2:00 p.m.: Public visitation/Memorial Service, Truman State University, Student Union, Georgian Room. All are welcome.

More:

• Playle Rimer Millard Funeral Home
• Jack and Sue Living Memorial Facebook page (group for sharing stories)
• A.T. Still University
• KTVO
• Jack and Sue 65th anniversary slideshow (August 4, 2019, by Laura)

ORIGINAL POST

“But if you believe that the Son of God died and rose again, your whole future is full of the dawn of an eternal morning, coming up beyond the hills of this life, and full of such hope as the highest imagination for the poet has not a glimmer of yet.” — George MacDonald, Proving the Unseen, p. 9.

After a week of 24-hour home care with hospice support, his bed positioned to catch the golden light of autumn streaming through the large French windows and to watch the horses browsing in the south pasture, we thank God for his mercy in welcoming Dad home. At 5:32 this afternoon, Dad passed peacefully and imperceptibly from this far country. All his life he loved us all so well, showing us the heart of the Father. Now he has entered into the dawn of an incomparable morning in the company of all the loved ones who have gone before.

A friend imagined Mother waiting for him on the porch there with a cup of coffee. She told him Banjo and Governor were out back. (Michael, we all agree; that sounds exactly right!)

For us, this world has changed forever. We are all united in spirit, sharing joys and tears, finding comfort together, supported by family, church, community, and friends near and far. Thank you for your prayers and support at this time.

An old Scottish song speaks of the parting of a loved one: You’ll take the high road, and I’ll take the low road, and you’ll be in Scotland before me. Dad has taken the high road. We’re still on the low road, far from Scotland, far from home. He’s gone on ahead of us, with all the others. The veil grows thin. We are very blessed, but the New Creation is even better. From this far country, that feels like our true home now more than ever.

We found an annotated passage from Matthew 22 in one of Dad’s Bibles. Above it, he recorded advice to remember which he faithfully practiced all his life: “Forgive everyone, everything, every night.”

Mother and Dad’s love for each other, and for everyone they encountered, is of such a quality that those who experienced it find it difficult to believe there is no New Creation. Rather, the reality of their love summons forth a quietly-confident hope in the Resurrection. As they lived out hope for us, so we now hold that hope for others. George MacDonald had a similar relationship with his loving father, I think, which inspired him to write the words quoted above.

Link: Magruder Lassies, Hymn Medley (Amazing Grace, How Can I Keep From Singing, Let All Things Now Living, How Firm a Foundation; audio only). In Dad’s room today, we played this on loop for most of the morning. It includes a song that has been on my heart for weeks now:

Our lives flow on in endless song
above earth’s lamentation:
We catch the sweet, though far off, hymn
that hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife,
We hear that music ringing.
It finds an echo in the soul —
how can we keep from singing?

Other songs accompanying me during this journey:

• Post: Magruder Lassies, “Grateful”
• Link: Andrew Peterson, “The Far Country”
• Post: The Arcadian Wild, “Welcome” and “Shoulders”.

I’ve added all these songs to my Christmas favorites playlist for this year.