Obituary for Jack Tobin
JACK BARTHOL TOBIN
August 28, 1928 – June 27, 2022
Quincy community leader and businessman Jack Barthol Tobin died June 27, 2022 in the Blossom Valley Assisted-Living Center in Wenatchee, Washington. He was 93 years old, accompanied in his last days by family members and friends. A funeral Mass in his honor will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 22, at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Quincy, followed by burial in the Quincy Valley Cemetery and a memorial gathering at the Heritage Barn, 415 F Street SW.
Jack was born on August 28, 1928 in Lewiston, Idaho to Mathilda Weber Tobin and John Joseph Tobin. His middle name, Barthol, descended from his maternal grandfather, Barthol Weber. His sister, Kathleen, was born in 1930. As a boy, Jack and his family sometimes lived in small towns in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, following the work of his father's road construction company. But they spent the most time in Spokane where he attended Catholic elementary schools with a mix of Irish, Italian, and German children.
When he was about 9 years old, Jack saw his father badly injured when a dump-truck bed came loose and crushed his father against a woodpile. While his father was hospitalized for months, his relatives stepped in to take care of his business and family. At that time, young Jack went to live with cousins on farms near Uniontown Washington and Genesee, Idaho. Big-family farm life was a new experience for him. He learned farm chores and enjoyed his cousins, but never became accustomed to warm milk fresh from the cow.
In 1939, Jack's father became a farmer after giving up his road-construction business. The family lived near Culdesac, Idaho. He and his sister attended the Catholic Mission School and later St. Mary's Catholic School where he graduated from 8th grade. He then attended the Culdesac public high school. There he had a particularly good science teacher who taught a class about electricity, a subject which especially sparked Jack's interest. Following graduation from high school, he joined the Army, with his basic training in Bliss, Texas. He then was posted to the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico and assigned to the Guided Missile Program in which he and others tested V2 rockets captured from Germans. He also trained there as an electrician and radio operator.
After the Army, Jack returned home to Idaho to attend the University of Idaho in Moscow, on the GI Bill. He met Mary Servatius at a dance hall in Lewiston where secretaries and college boys danced to Big Band music and bought beer for 10 cents a glass. After dating for a year, they married over Thanksgiving break on November 25, 1949, at Holy Family Catholic Church in Clarkston, Washington. That was the same church where Jack's parents had married and where his grandparents were buried.
When his mother died suddenly in April 1950, Jack and Mary left university life in Moscow to help his father farm in the Culdesac area. Their first child, Janis, was born in December of that year. Inspired by his Army training, Jack eventually studied at a technical college in Chicago and returned to Idaho to work for electrical contractors in Orofino and Lewiston. Encouraged by his father, he put his name in a federal lottery program drawing designed to given veterans preference to land within federal irrigation projects. Jack did win land in that lottery, but kept alive his hope of starting an electrical business.
With double dreams of farm and business, Jack and Mary moved to Quincy in 1955. Jack intended to farm the lottery land while starting his own electrical contracting business, Tobin Electric. Much of his early business involved repairing broken heaters and rewiring houses to accommodate the new-fangled clothes dryers. Eventually the business developed in other directions and became his full-time occupation.
As his business grew, so did the family, expanding to seven children, all active in school. Jack joined Mary in playing bridge with friends and in watching their children play basketball and other sports. Among his various community contributions, Jack took leadership roles in the local Rotary Club and at St. Pius X Catholic Church. He and Mary also were able to travel to European and South American countries, sometimes on General Electric bonus trips awarded to honor Tobin Electric's use and sale of GE products. More than 60 years later, Tobin Electric continues to serve Quincy-area customers in work managed by Jack's two younger sons, Pat and Greg Tobin.
Reflecting on his life, Jack wrote in 2010: “I believe that the reason we did so well is that Mary and I had a good marriage, and good work ethics, and Catholic religious values, from our parents and immigrant grandparents, and from growing up during the Depression.”
Jack was predeceased by his wife of some 70 years, Mary Frances Servatius Tobin, who died in 2020, and by his sister, Kathleen Tobin Sutton. He is survived by seven children and their spouses: Janis Carpenter (Dunbar S.) in Portland OR, James Tobin (Tenley) in Woodinville WA, Christine Evenson (John) in Wenatchee WA, Patrick Tobin (Kathy) in Quincy WA, Debra DiTommaso (Anthony) in Wenatchee WA, Jacqueline Alvernaz (Paul) in Kent WA, and Gregory Tobin (Leslie) in Quincy WA. Other survivors include 21 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
The family suggests donations in Jack's memory to the Quincy Community Food Bank, Post Office Box 413, Quincy WA 98848.
Please leave a memory for the family or sign the guestbook at www.scharbachs.com.
Scharbach's Columbia Funeral Chapel, Quincy, is assisting the family with arrangements.
August 28, 1928 – June 27, 2022
Quincy community leader and businessman Jack Barthol Tobin died June 27, 2022 in the Blossom Valley Assisted-Living Center in Wenatchee, Washington. He was 93 years old, accompanied in his last days by family members and friends. A funeral Mass in his honor will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Friday, July 22, at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Quincy, followed by burial in the Quincy Valley Cemetery and a memorial gathering at the Heritage Barn, 415 F Street SW.
Jack was born on August 28, 1928 in Lewiston, Idaho to Mathilda Weber Tobin and John Joseph Tobin. His middle name, Barthol, descended from his maternal grandfather, Barthol Weber. His sister, Kathleen, was born in 1930. As a boy, Jack and his family sometimes lived in small towns in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, following the work of his father's road construction company. But they spent the most time in Spokane where he attended Catholic elementary schools with a mix of Irish, Italian, and German children.
When he was about 9 years old, Jack saw his father badly injured when a dump-truck bed came loose and crushed his father against a woodpile. While his father was hospitalized for months, his relatives stepped in to take care of his business and family. At that time, young Jack went to live with cousins on farms near Uniontown Washington and Genesee, Idaho. Big-family farm life was a new experience for him. He learned farm chores and enjoyed his cousins, but never became accustomed to warm milk fresh from the cow.
In 1939, Jack's father became a farmer after giving up his road-construction business. The family lived near Culdesac, Idaho. He and his sister attended the Catholic Mission School and later St. Mary's Catholic School where he graduated from 8th grade. He then attended the Culdesac public high school. There he had a particularly good science teacher who taught a class about electricity, a subject which especially sparked Jack's interest. Following graduation from high school, he joined the Army, with his basic training in Bliss, Texas. He then was posted to the White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico and assigned to the Guided Missile Program in which he and others tested V2 rockets captured from Germans. He also trained there as an electrician and radio operator.
After the Army, Jack returned home to Idaho to attend the University of Idaho in Moscow, on the GI Bill. He met Mary Servatius at a dance hall in Lewiston where secretaries and college boys danced to Big Band music and bought beer for 10 cents a glass. After dating for a year, they married over Thanksgiving break on November 25, 1949, at Holy Family Catholic Church in Clarkston, Washington. That was the same church where Jack's parents had married and where his grandparents were buried.
When his mother died suddenly in April 1950, Jack and Mary left university life in Moscow to help his father farm in the Culdesac area. Their first child, Janis, was born in December of that year. Inspired by his Army training, Jack eventually studied at a technical college in Chicago and returned to Idaho to work for electrical contractors in Orofino and Lewiston. Encouraged by his father, he put his name in a federal lottery program drawing designed to given veterans preference to land within federal irrigation projects. Jack did win land in that lottery, but kept alive his hope of starting an electrical business.
With double dreams of farm and business, Jack and Mary moved to Quincy in 1955. Jack intended to farm the lottery land while starting his own electrical contracting business, Tobin Electric. Much of his early business involved repairing broken heaters and rewiring houses to accommodate the new-fangled clothes dryers. Eventually the business developed in other directions and became his full-time occupation.
As his business grew, so did the family, expanding to seven children, all active in school. Jack joined Mary in playing bridge with friends and in watching their children play basketball and other sports. Among his various community contributions, Jack took leadership roles in the local Rotary Club and at St. Pius X Catholic Church. He and Mary also were able to travel to European and South American countries, sometimes on General Electric bonus trips awarded to honor Tobin Electric's use and sale of GE products. More than 60 years later, Tobin Electric continues to serve Quincy-area customers in work managed by Jack's two younger sons, Pat and Greg Tobin.
Reflecting on his life, Jack wrote in 2010: “I believe that the reason we did so well is that Mary and I had a good marriage, and good work ethics, and Catholic religious values, from our parents and immigrant grandparents, and from growing up during the Depression.”
Jack was predeceased by his wife of some 70 years, Mary Frances Servatius Tobin, who died in 2020, and by his sister, Kathleen Tobin Sutton. He is survived by seven children and their spouses: Janis Carpenter (Dunbar S.) in Portland OR, James Tobin (Tenley) in Woodinville WA, Christine Evenson (John) in Wenatchee WA, Patrick Tobin (Kathy) in Quincy WA, Debra DiTommaso (Anthony) in Wenatchee WA, Jacqueline Alvernaz (Paul) in Kent WA, and Gregory Tobin (Leslie) in Quincy WA. Other survivors include 21 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
The family suggests donations in Jack's memory to the Quincy Community Food Bank, Post Office Box 413, Quincy WA 98848.
Please leave a memory for the family or sign the guestbook at www.scharbachs.com.
Scharbach's Columbia Funeral Chapel, Quincy, is assisting the family with arrangements.