Funeral services for Jack Arnett Walch, 92, will be at 10:30 am., Thursday, April 10, 2008, at Cheyenne Valley United Methodist Church with the Rev. Marvin Stuckey officiating. Burial will follow in the Lone Star Cemetery. Arrangements are provided by Fairview Funeral Home Inc.

Viewing will be Tuesday, 8 April 2008 from 9am to 5pm and Wednesday, 9 April 2008 from 9am to 6pm with visitation with the family and friends from 6pm to 8:30pm.

Jack was born December 21, 1915 in Enid, OK, and died April 4, 2008 at the Seiling Nursing Center, Seiling, OK. He was the son of Earl "Pop" and Fay S. (Williams) Walch, Cherokee, OK. He graduated from Cherokee High School and attended Northwestern University in Alva, OK. Jack married Pearl L. Marlatt November 4, 1939.

Jack joined the Oklahoma National Guard in 1931 in Cherokee at the age of 16. He was only 16 years old at the time but since he was so tall, being six feet four inches, he was accepted and passed as an 18 year old. Jack later entered the Regular Army in Fort Sill, Lawton, OK where he trained in Field Artillery School and attended Officer Candidate School from 1941-1943. As a Captain, he was the field artillery unit commander of battery "B" 693rd Field Artillery Battalion. His battalion left for the England staging area February 12, 1944. Landing on Utah Beach, Jack participated in the European Theater of Operations in the Normandy Campaign, the Campaign of Northern France, the Campaign of the Rhineland, and the Campaign of Central Europe, July 14, 1944 to May 12, 1945. During the Rhineland Campaign on January 15 and firing the 105mm Howitzer, "B" Battery fired the 50,000th round of the battalion near Siltzheim, Germany. Battery "B" also fired the last round of the battalion, the 76,203rd, May 4, 1945, Piding, Germany. Jack returned to the US, November 27, 1945 and entered the field artillery Reserves as a Major.

Jack's work history included wheat farming west of Orienta, OK, civil engineering on the Canton Dam project as well as Great Salt Plains reservoir project. In 1957-58 jack worked as director of oil pipeline construction for western Turkey in a NATO project.

Jack was city manager of Fairview, OK from 1963 to 1969. He started a company, Cheyenne Industries, which utilized the skills of Native Americans to weave and create wire harness for Western Electric of Oklahoma City and missile and rocket systems for the U.S. government.

Jack was proud to have been a member of the Fairview Masonic Lodge as a 32nd degree Mason, the Fairview VFW and the Fairview Rotary Club.

Jack is survived by two daughters: Mary Lou Cagle and husband, Greg, of Charlotte, NC. and Barbara Dickson and husband, William, of Tishomingo, OK, five grandchildren, Curtis, Christie, Cassie, Mark and David and eleven great grandchildren.

Jack is preceded in death by his wife, Pearl, his parents and brother and family friend, Larry Hammer.