John Joseph "Jack" Vandever , Jr.,70, a resident of Pasadena, MD, died on February 7 after a six year battle with esophageal cancer.

He was born on August 20, 1940, to Helen and John Vandever of Haddon Heights, NJ. Jack graduated from Haddon Heights High School in 1958 and went on to Gettysburg College, PA, where he majored in English and graduated in 1962. Jack was active in Sigma Chi fraternity beginning while he was at Gettysburg. He also met his wife, Judith Curchin Vandever there; they married after graduation in 1962. In 1979, he received his Master of Arts in Management and Supervision from Central Michigan University.

After receiving his US Army commission in the fall of 1962, he remained on active duty for 20 years. He had various assignments during those years – some of the more memorable are an assignment to Arlington Hall Station, VA, in 1962-63, where their daughter, Lesley, was born, and where they saw President Kennedy lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier shortly before he was assassinated; a 3 year stint in Fairbanks, Alaska, where their son, Jay, was born; a tour in the Republic of Viet Nam where Jack served as a senior intelligence advisor; three years at Fort Knox, KY, where the family bought their first boat and enjoyed camping and fishing at the "Land between The Lakes"; an unaccompanied year in Sinop, Turkey; another three years with the family in Stuttgart, Germany; and finally to Fort Meade, MD where he retired in 1982 from the US Army Intelligence and Security Command. Jack then went back to work for the US Air Force and spent another 13 years there as a civilian employee before retiring again.

Jack's interests were many. He was an Eagle Scout, and a member of the Order of the Arrow. He attended the International Boy Scout Jamboree in Irvine, CA. the summer of 1953; the following summer he attended Philmont Scout Ranch in NM. He served on the Supervisory Committee for Tower Federal Credit Union from June 1999 until May 2006, and was Chairman from 2002 to 2006. He was on the Gettysburg College Alumni Board from 1996 – 2006, and he was active in the Northern Anne Arundel County Chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association where he served as treasurer from 2002-2006. He enjoyed boating, fishing, camping, reading and travel.

Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Judy; daughter Lesley and her partner, Jennifer Wilson; son Jay and his wife, Valerie, and three grandchildren, Shannon, Tarah and Jonathan. In addition he leaves a brother, Jim and his wife Judy; a sister, Jane MacKenzie and her husband Kenneth, and a sister-in-law, Pat Curchin. Jack was predeceased by a brother, Richard C. Vandever, who died in 1980.

A Memorial Service will be held at Woods Memorial Presbyterian Church, 611 B&A Boulevard, Severna Park, MD 21146, on Friday February 25, 2011 at 1:00pm. Jack's ashes will be incorporated into a reef ball which will become part of The Eternal Reefs restoration project in the Chesapeake Bay.
Arrangements have been made by Barranco & Sons, P.A. Severna Park Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Esophageal Clinical Research Fund, Kimmel Cancer Center, The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building, 401 N. Broadway – Suite 1100, Baltimore, MD 21231. Online condolences may be made at www.barrancofuneralhome.com