Van "Grady" Jacobs

Funeral services for Van “Grady” Jacobs, 80, of Portales, were held at 2:00 PM, Sat., May 8, 1999 in the Wheeler Mortuary Chapel with Rev. Melinda Morton and Rev. Steve Smith officiating.  Burial followed in the Portales Cemetery with Jim Krake, Richard Wrage, John Wuest, Ned Wright, Al McNamara, Joe Shumate and James Kyte serving as pallbearers.  Honorary pallbearers were Dr. Lonnie Alexander, Dr. William Gordon, Dr. Satish Cayenne, Dr. Vesta Maple, the ICU staff and the doctors of Vencor Hospital in Albuquerque and the many nurses and healthcare professionals who have cared for him in the past year and his many friends.

Van Grady Jacobs was born August 2, 1918 at Lone Pine, Arkansas near Clarksville, to the home of Chummie Elizabeth and Lattie Henderson Jacobs.  He passed from this life on Wednesday morning, May 5, 1999, in Albuquerque at the age of 80 years, 9 months and 3 days.

He was the fourth child to be born into the family.  On New Years Eve, 1923, the family moved from Arkansas to a farm east of Farwell.  They later moved to Oklahoma Lane, and he received most of his education there and in Muleshoe.  In 1938, they moved to Portales.  At that time, he was working with his brother, Raymond, in wheat harvest and was away a considerable part of the time.  In 1941, he entered the U. S. Army, and was sent to Europe in the infantry during World War II.  He was at Normandy within a few days of the initial invasion, and fought in battles across Europe, including the Battle of the Bulge, throughout the remainder of the War.  He received a Purple Heart for wounds received during a battle in Germany.  Following the War, he returned to Portales and worked in local body shops doing car repair until 1947, when he became the first school mechanic at Eastern New Mexico University.  One of the projects he did for the university was to build a special stretched car to carry the athletic teams.  He also helped to moved the airplane hangar form Fort Sumner to Eastern’s campus that served as the gymnasium for many years before the arena was built in the late 1960’s.  In 1956, he began classes at the university, and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in 1961.  He began teaching at the university at that time in the Technology department, with the Proviso that he would complete a Master’s Degree as well.  He went on to earn two Master’s Degrees, one in Education and one in Technology.  He taught welding, power mechanics and machine shop at Eastern until 1970.  In the fall of 1970, he became the Industrial Cooperative Training instructor at Goddard High School in Roswell.  He had been retired since 1980.  Since then, he had spent much of his time rebuilding cars for resale and personal use, and enjoying his family.  He was a member of the Trinity Lutheran Church in Clovis.  He married Myra Herman on August 19, 1951 here in Portales, and to their home were born 3 children, a son and 2 daughters.

He is survived by his wife, Myra of the home; his son, Greg also of the home; his 2 daughters and sons-in-law, Debbie and Scott Reeves of Portales and Patti and Larry Campbell of Denver; his 5 grandchildren, Jeremy, Michael and Colin Reeves all of Portales, and Sarah and Luke Campbell of Denver; his sister, Mary Emma McPhail of Melbourne, Florida; as well as nieces and nephews and other family members and his friends.  He was preceded in death by his parents, 3 bothers, Homer, Raymond and Leroy Jacobs, and a sister, Jewell Ramm.

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