Obituary of John Jeffries

John Jeffries Jr passed away peacefully on May 24th 2014 in Reston, Virginia. John was born in October of 1921 and raised in Grafton, West Virginia until volunteering to join the US Navy in 1939. He served in all major theaters of World War II. His initial tour was in the North Atlantic, aboard the battleship USS Texas, providing convey escort between America and Europe. In 1942 he was transferred to the cruiser USS Cleveland where he supported the invasion of North Africa on the Cleveland's maiden mission. John and the USS Cleveland were then sent to the South Pacific where they were in many heated battles around the Solomon Islands. After being selected for the B-12 ROTC program in December 1943, John met his wife Corinne while attending Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio. He graduated with a degree in Economics after transferring to Harvard University. John continued his education and earned a master's degree in Economics and Public Administration at George Washington University at night while working at the Army Map Service from 1948-1955 as a mathematician and computer specialist. In 1951 an opportunity to study law at Georgetown University presented itself and he earned his law degree in 1955 and was licensed to practice law. John's diverse professional career led him from computer programmer to real estate investor, and back to programming before retirement in 1986. He was on the frontier of computer programming and worked with the Air Force at the Pentagon, and then for IBM on the space program for NASA on Project Mercury and Project Gemini and retired from the Social Security Administration after supporting a major revamping of their computer systems. John is survived by his wife of 70 Years Corinne (Fleger) Jeffries; daughter Melinda Lasater and husband Michael; sons Alan Jeffries and wife Leslie , Robert Jeffries and wife Carol; granddaughters Ashley Nikolic and husband Marko, Danielle Hedgepeth and husband Dustin, Alyse Lasater, Jackie Jeffries, and Amber Jeffries; grandson Sean Jeffries; and great grandson Cameron Hedgepeth. Three younger sisters also survive him: June Shoemaker, Wilburta Adkins and Jean Webb; as well as many loving cousins, nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents, Vada Pearl Utt and Virgil Luther Jeffries, John is preceded in death by six brothers; Homer Addis Jeffries, Thomas Dale Jeffries, Wilber James Utt, David Lee Utt, Clifford Faye Utt, and Richard Keith Utt, and three sisters; Doris Genevieve DeBarr, Ruth Cleona Barney and Francis Geraldine Sheets. Family and friends are invited to join us for a Celebration of Life to be held on June 28th at 11 am at Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa, located at One Lakeview Drive, Morgantown, WV 26508. Bring instruments and help us celebrate John's life with the music that was his greatest pleasure. Condolences can be left for the family at Adams Green Funeral Home (http://www.adamsgreen.com/book-of-memories/1875677/Jeffries-John/service-details.php). John will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. In lieu of flowers, if you wish to make a donation in John's memory, the family would like you to consider these organizations which were all dear to John's heart. Battleship Texas Foundation - http://battleshiptexas.org/ International Mother' Day Shrine - http://www.mothersdayshrine.com/ Wounded Warrior Project - http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/