Obituary
John Richard (Jack) De Long was born on March 5, 1930 in Vancouver. His parents Richard and Maud De Long (nee Plumley) had moved there briefly and returned to Alberta before he was two years old to homestead at Buck Lake. By the time that Jack was in school his mother (who was a district nurse) moved back to Edmonton to care for her mother, Martha Plumley, at the family home in Garneau. While Jack attended Garneau School at various times his grandmother “did not want a child in the house”, and so he went to live with his Uncle Jack and Aunt Susie at the original Plumley homestead at Horse Hill or was sent up to Athabasca to live with his Uncle Tom and Aunt Bib, where he spent most summer and fall seasons helping on the farm. When Grandmother Plumley died Jack came back to live with his mother and went to Garneau School and Strathcona High School.
Jack met Marion when they were in their teens but they didn’t start going together until they met again at the Rainbow Ballroom on Whyte Avenue (everyone went to Whyte Avenue to dance). Both were in their early 20s; Jack was working at Vet’s Sheet Metal off Whyte Avenue and Marion was working at the Bank of Nova Scotia on Whyte. Jack married Marion on October 12, 1953 and they started their family.
One of Jack’s lifelong regrets was that he didn’t get to go to University. There were two boys in the Plumley family that the family agreed to send to the University of Alberta – Jack De Long and his cousin Jack Plumley. Jack Plumley was older and went first but by the time he graduated and it was Jack’s turn the harvests were very poor and there was no money in the family to send him.
After Vet’s Sheet Metal where he apprenticed as a sheet metal worker, Jack worked with a good friend, Ralph Otto, at Otto Sheet Metal. In the late 1960s when Ralph unexpectedly passed away and the business was sold, Jack took many of the employees with him to start his own business, Jay-Arr Manufacturing, in the late 1960s.
Over the years Jack and Marion lived with their growing family in the Bonnie Doon/Mill Creek area, moving to Capilano in 1970, and then an acreage east of Sherwood Park in the late 1970s. When Jack retired and wound up his business in the late 1980s, Jack and Marion returned to Edmonton.
Jack was always very active. He played basketball and football in high school and golfed from the time he was a young man. Jack and Marion were two of the original members of the Belvedere Golf & Country Club. They played there from the 1960s to around 2005 and all the kids and most of the grandchildren golfed with them. Well into his 70s Jack was a great golfer and didn’t think much of his game unless he was playing par golf. In his later years he would drive the golf cart and look for golf balls while Marion played.
Jack was also a musician. He played trumpet and tenor sax primarily but loved to play the vibes too. Jack started the Barbary Brass with his long-time friend Zen Magus when they were both in their twenties. The Barbary Brass played for years at various places in Edmonton – the Captain’s Cabin, the Faculty Club, the Saxony, Tita’s, and other supper clubs. Big Miller and Jack were good friends and he also played with Tommy Bank’s Big Band.
In retirement Jack became very involved in his church, Crossroads Christian Assembly, where he was an Elder of the Church, and with Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International where he held various executive positions.
Jack was very proud of his grandchildren and always came out to events – whether it was watching Justin and then Ryley and Ruari play hockey, Jenny at a ballet recital, or Madeleine and Robyn at soccer or music. In his later years he spent time with his younger grandchildren Jared, Luke, and Seth and always enjoyed the visits of Graham and Sam from Vancouver Island and Rachel from Houston. Jack’s children and grandchildren and now great-grandchildren Keira and Marzia will miss him immensely.
Jack and Marion were married for 63 years; they were always together – on the golf course, at church, or with family.
Goodbye Jack, Dad, Grandpapa, Great-Grandpapa. We will love you forever and miss you for always.

Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de John De Long.source

avis deces John De Long- avis mortuaire John De Long