PFC Jack A. Claes

1924 - 2020

USMC

WWII

Jack A. Claes was born March 6, 1924, Edgewater, New Jersey, son of Augustus and Alice Claes.

He volunteered for the U.S. Marine Corps in December, 1942, and served honorably in the South Pacific in amphibious battles in Eniwetok, Okinawa and Guam.

In 1948, Claes married Dorothy O’Brien, with whom he raised six children. Later in life, he married again, to Jean Vormittag.

In 1955, after attending NYU for Municipal Administration, Claes took his first job as a Parks and Recreation department head in Vineland, New Jersey; he went on to positions in Great Falls, Montana, and Elgin, Illinois. In 1967, he became the first Director of the Elk Grove Park District. During his 29-year tenure, the Elk Grove Park District became nationally recognized for its excellence in programming and park development.

PFC Jack Claes passed away peacefully of natural causes on May 24, 2020. He is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Barrington.

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Remember. Honor. Teach.

Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution