James "Jack" Talmadge Haydock

James "Jack" Talmadge Haydock, born September 18, 1924, in Everett, Washington, passed away peacefully on February 27, 2025, in Monroe, Washington, at the age of 100. A true character with a steering wheel in his hands from the start, Jack lived a century packed with grit, laughter, and tales that could fill a book. A proud World War II veteran, he served in the U.S. Navy from May 1943 to March 1946 aboard the USS San Juan, surviving 9 major campaigns in the Pacific Theater: the Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, Asiatic-Pacific Raids, Hollandia, Marianas, Western Caroline Islands, Leyte, Luzon, and Iwo Jima. For his service, he earned the Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with 9 stars, the Philippine Liberation Campaign Medal with 1 star, the American Area Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. 

Jack's life was a road well-traveled. From buying his first Model T at 13 with two cords of wood to driving nearly five million commercial miles without a chargeable accident, he was a trucker through and through-hauling logs, cement, and girders for the Grand Coulee Dam's third powerhouse. He built trucks too, including custom Kenworth "pick-ups" that turned heads at shows. A mechanical soul, he once froze atop a spar tree, faced a bear while picking berries, and got shot in Sultan by a deputy-only to have penicillin save his leg when gangrene set in. "I made it through 11 campaigns in the war without a scratch," he'd say, "and then come home and get shot on Main Street." 

For the last 50 years of his life, Jack called the Coulee Dam area home, living on a shaded street with his beloved wife, Susan Haydock, who preceded him in death in 2017, and a dog he'd jokingly threaten to send into traffic.

He is survived by his daughters, Nance Jo Haydock-Keck and Sherry Lynn Woods; grandchildren James Rowe, Brady Hjort, Zeb Keck, and Erin Nussbaum; great-grandchildren Kiersten Burroughs, Taylor Rowe, Harlan Rowe, Kaylee Rowe, Olivia Hjort, Eli Sorrells, Avi Nussbaum, Yael Nussbaum, Michael Keck, Jack Keck, and Ellie Keck; and great-great-grandchildren Brody Burroughs, Brett Burroughs, and Blake Burroughs. 

Jack's legacy-war hero, master driver, and irrepressible spirit-lives on in his sprawling family and the countless stories he left behind.