Jack left behind very little information with which to sketch his life: no birth record, no marriage or divorce record, and no obituary.
World War II
Fortunately, the US military’s obsession with recording every movement of its personnel allows us to scrape together a rough picture of Jack’s short-lived career in the Marines (see the table below). It’s worth noticing that he enlisted before the outbreak of the war, in June of 1941, when he was just twenty years old. Although the country was still at peace, the inevitably of war was becoming more obvious with every newsreel and front page headline.
Jack completed his WWII draft registration in 1942, after his 13 months in the Marines. On the card he says he is unemployed and adds the explanation, “pension.” Initially, the word is bewildering, but if we tie it to his disability discharge he may be saying he is receiving some sort of disability pension from the Marines.
His Life
In the 1930 and 1940 censuses he is listed simply as the son of his parents.
He married Audrey Storm Kortsch (1928-1982) in 1949. By 1950 he was working as the proprietor of a building maintenance business and living with his in-laws along with Audrey and daughter Anne (b. 1950). In 1952 he worked as an insurance claims investigator, then transferred the skills he learned there to the Milwaukee City Coroner’s office, where he worked as an investigator for many years until his retirement.
Next, two pictures of Audrey Ruth Storm, from junior and senior high school yearbooks. East Side High School is known now as Riverside University HS.
Jack and Audrey divorced at an unknown date. Neither remarried.
Jack had one minor run-in with the Waukesha police when he was given a ticket in 1954 for driving an unregistered car. The fine was $3 ($35 today) and court costs. His father had his own troubles with cars and the police.
His Daughter
Not much is known of Anne Kortsch (1950-2005). The first three pictures below were taken from her junior and senior high school yearbooks (1963-1966). The last is her graduation picture from Marquette University’s School of Nursing. She finished the program in 1981, when she was 31, suggesting that she took some years to work before starting college.
Anne had little contact with her father after she turned eighteen. She presumably worked as a nurse, although there’s no documentation to confirm that.
She never married but was in a long-term partnership with Gordon Griffith (1937-2005). Mr. Griffith had two previous wives, the second divorce occurring in 1978. With his history, Mr. Griffith may have been reluctant to begin another marriage. They died within nine weeks of each other in 2005 and are buried together in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Picture Gallery
The first two pictures show Jack as a soldier. The next five, how he looked as a boy. Dad’s brother Bill being away in the Air Force at the time, Jack acted as best man at Mom and Dad’s wedding in 1944. The last several show him in his 70s and early 80s.
More pictures of Jack as a boy can be seen in Mom’s Photo Album. For all the pictures of Jack, enter his name into the search bar.
