John “Jack” R. Black, 81, of Endicott, NY went on to be with his Lord and Savior on March 9, 2017. Jack was born in East Weymouth, MA and spent his childhood years in the Stoney Lonesome section of Summit Hill, PA. He is survived by his beloved wife of 59 years, Alice (Cobb) Black; his children, Jon and Pamela Black, Laura and Martin Glover, Karen Black, David and Laurie Black; his brother Gerald Black, his sister Jane and Jim Bohner and his sister-in-law Dorothy Black. He was a proud and loving “GrandPa” to Matthew and Chrystine, Amanda and Casey, Rachel, Kelly, Andrew and Jacob; “Great GrandPa” to Lily, Aubrey and Ruby; “Uncle Jack” to his many “favorite” nieces and nephews. Jack was employed by IBM for 30 years as a Programmer and Manager. He graduated from Union-Endicott high school in 1952 and then from Broome Tech in 1960. While at Broome Tech, Jack served as student government president and president of the NY State Community Colleges Student Government Association. He proudly served his country as a Korean War veteran in the US Navy attaining the rank of SO2. Jack’s greatest joy came from his work with his Union Center church family where he spent a good part of the past 40 years serving as a layperson speaker, Emmaus Walk leader, Lay witness mission member and a part of the Kairos prison ministry. For the past 25 years he served as a Hunter Safety Instructor at the Square Deal Sportsmen Club in Maine, NY. Anyone who knew Jack knew he was a diehard Boston Red Sox fan.
The family will be celebrating his life with a memorial service to be held on Saturday, March 18th at Union Center United Methodist Church located at 128 Maple Drive in Endicott, NY. Services will be led by Pastor Dave McKinney with a visiting hour from 10:00-11:00 AM and a memorial service from 11:00-noon. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Union Center UMC so they may continue their work in our community.