Jay Vana Paxton was born Mar. 15, 1926 to Allen and Tena Vana Paxton. He died Dec. 20, 2016 and is buried in Montour Cemetery, Montour, IA
Jay was a Navy veteran of World War II and served aboard the minesweeper U.S.S. Quick as a radio operator. His ship swept mines throughout the South Pacific and was one of the first ships into Sasebo Bay following the detonation of the atomic bomb at Nagasaki.
Obituary:
Jay Vana Paxton, a long-time Montour area farmer, died early Tuesday morning, December 20, 2016 in Story City. He was 90 years old.
Funeral services were held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, December 23 at the Living Faith United Methodist Church in Tama, Pastors Brian Oliver and Dan Paxton officiating. Burial was in the Montour cemetery following the service.
Jay was born March 15, 1926 to Allen and Tena (Vana) Paxton in Montour. He spent his childhood in Montour then moved to the original Paxton homestead farm in 1938 when his father purchased it.
He graduated from Montour High School in 1943, a member of Montour’s state basketball and state baseball teams. He joined the Navy in November of 1944 and served aboard the minesweeper U.S.S. Quick as a radio operator. His ship swept mines throughout the South Pacific and was one of the first ships into Sasebo Bay following the detonation of the atomic bomb at Nagasaki. The ship also swept mines up the Yalu River in China to Shanghai and around the Korean peninsula before heading home after the war.
One of the last Navy veterans returning home in July of 1946, he was too late to get into Iowa State University and entered the University of Wyoming where he majored in agriculture. There he met and eventually married Elizabeth (Betty) Newell of Caldwell, Idaho on June 10, 1949. Their first child, Betsy, was born in Laramie.
Following his graduation, the couple returned to Iowa where they joined his father, Allen, and brother, Edward, in the farming operation. Jay turned the farm into one of the first farrow to finish swine operations, using confinement farrowing and feeding techniques in the mid 1960s. He also joined in an experiment in swine genetics, called “SPF” an attempt to create a disease free hog. He sold purebred SPF boars and gilts throughout the Midwest until the experiment did not produce the results hoped for. He turned to cross breeding to improve herd health and raised market hogs until 1991. He was also honored by the Tama County Soil and Water Conservation Service for his conservation efforts.
Jay and Betty lost their first child, Betsy at 18 months of age. They would have five more children including Tina and Ted, who were adopted from the Holt orphanage in Korea. Tina was one of the earliest Korean orphans to come to Iowa. Ted came to the Paxtons in 1975.
Jay was active in the Montour community, coaching youth baseball, playing trumpet in the town band and playing taps at every military veteran’s funeral. He and his family were long-time members of the Montour United Methodist Church and he would later become active in Promise Keepers, Fellowship of Christian Farmers, traveling on one mission trip to Mexico. He served on the South Tama Community School Board from 1966, when his oldest son started playing football until 1985, when his youngest son completed his high school career at South Tama. He rarely missed a Trojan football game.
His wife, Betty died February 17, 1993 after a battle with breast cancer and he was remarried to Lorraine Hinderaker on October 10, 1996. The couple relocated to Jewell, Iowa where Jay was introduced to golf which became a life-long passion. He played multiple times weekly until he was 89. The couple also enjoyed travel, wintering in Texas for many years. He never game up his love of the soil and grew a huge garden in Jewell until the last year of his life.
Jay is survived by his wife Lorraine of Story City; children Dan (Roilene) of Waterloo, Dave (Jan) of Albia, Jane (Brian) Cibula, Kellogg, Tina (Scott) Bensend of Waterloo and Ted (Brianne) of Vinton; 18 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Also two step-children, four step grandchildren and a step great-grandchild.
He was preceded in death by his parents; brother Edward; daughter Betsy; and wife Betty.
A memorial fund has been established. Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home, Tame-Toledo, is assisting the family with arrangements.
Source: South Hamilton Record News, Jewell, IA - Dec. 2016
