Jack H. Kercheval

Jack Henry Kercheval passed away at Presbyterian Rust Medical Center in Rio Rancho Thursday evening, Dec. 20, of complications of a brief illness.  He was 85.

He was born April 21, 1933, in Hanson, Kentucky, the fourth child of Howard Carr Kercheval and Grace Edwards Kercheval.  His childhood and teenage years were spent in Princeton, Kentucky, where his father and uncle operated a milling business.  In 1949, following the death of his father in 1947, he moved to Washington DC, where he lived until joining the U.S. Air Force at the outbreak of the Korean War.

He served as a flight engineer during the war, flying on some of the final missions of World War II legacy bombers.  He returned to Washington following the war and began working for the British aviation company Vickers Armstrong.  He left Washington in 1961 to take a position in Miami with Thompson Aviation, where he remained until his retirement in 1997.  Soon after retirement, he and his wife, Nadine, moved to Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

Jack traveled widely during his lifetime, his interest in all places sparked by his wartime service and brief encounters in Korea and Japan.  His time with Vickers Armstrong included travel to England, and during his many years with Thompson Aviation and its successor company, he traveled widely in the US and Latin America, and in Eastern Asia.  Following retirement, he and Nadine traveled widely, including trips to Europe and Egypt.

Following Nadine’s death in 2013, Jack began extensive domestic travel, transitioning from a “stick house” and car to a comfortable 5th wheel trailer and pickup truck.  Warm months he spent mostly parked at Stagecoach Stop RV park in Rio Rancho; when weather cooled, he hit the road for warmer parts of the country.  In recent years, he spent much of the winter in Tucson and Yuma, Arizona.

His last major journey was an 8,000-mile odyssey this past summer that included visits with family in New Orleans and Kentucky, several Civil War battlefields in Virginia and the Mid Atlantic area, New England, the Canadian Maritime provinces, across southern Canada to Glacier National Park, then south back to Rio Rancho.

Jack read constantly on anything and everything, and had a lifelong interest in history.  His many trips always involved an itinerary meticulously planned to include museums and related historic sites.  That interest in history included an expansive knowledge of aircraft and anything related to aviation.  Settled comfortably into a chair — with a Manhattan at hand — he could hold forth on airplanes and related issues that easily could have comprised a seminar on the subject.

He will be remembered way beyond fondly, and missed always.

Jack is survived by daughter Geraldine and husband Jerome Paszkiewicz, of Rio Rancho; daughter Marjorie Jones of New Orleans; grandchildren Jon Paszkiewicz, Vanessa Dackiewicz, Michelle Paszkiewicz, Sara Beckwith, Joseph Paszkiewicz, David Paszkiewicz, Ana Paszkiewicz, Jessica Jones, their spouses and 10 great-grandchildren of Rio Rancho and New Orleans; nephews Howard Kercheval of Albuquerque, David Kercheval of Colorado Springs, niece Elizabeth Locke of Madisonville, Kentucky, nephew Sam Kercheval of Ashbyburg, Kentucky, and their families; David Kercheval of Valrico, Florida; and Rick Kercheval of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Brandon Kercheval of Houston, Texas, and Kim Dean of Spring Branch, Texas, and their families.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Nadine; parents and three brothers, Howard C. Kercheval Jr., William David Kercheval and Joseph Brandon Kercheval, and their wives.

Services will be held Saturday, Jan. 5, at 2 p.m. at Daniels Family Funeral Services, 4310 Sara Road, Rio Rancho, followed by a reception at the Paszkiewicz home for a celebratory toast and opportunity to share mutual fondness for an exceptional man.