John ("Jack") Scott Lorber, affectionately known to many as "Papa," passed on to heaven on Wednesday, July 10, one week before he turned  93.  We mourn the loss of a great husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend.  But more importantly, because he had a genuine testimony of knowing Jesus Christ as his savior, we celebrate his home-going to heaven.  Born in Portsmouth, Virginia, Jack lived through the depression as a child.  He served in World War 2 as a tank driver in Patton's 3rd army.  After the war he married Blanche Hand of Leesburg, New Jersey, who for many years was a nurse at the Norfolk Naval Hospital.  Jack worked at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard on projects such as the Polaris and Poseidon missile programs - which brought him on many trips to Cape Canaveral in the early years.  He was faithful to his brother Bill, who had Lou Gehrig's disease for 20 years, when he took Bill to his own church for all those years.  When Bill died, Jack became a faithful member of Good News Baptist church in Chesapeake, Virginia.  He also served actively in his local Veterans of Foreign Wars unit in Virginia and in the local Gideon's chapter, always having a New Testament nearby ready to distribute.  Jack and Blanche moved to Florida in 2010, where he continued his affiliation with the Gideons and VFW.  He served in his church as an usher and was always there early to help cook and serve breakfast on their "Faith Share" Saturdays.

There are probably two things Jack was most passionate about and he felt they were summarized on a t-shirt he had, which says, "Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you: Jesus Christ who died for your soul and the veteran who died for your freedom."

Jack knew the way to heaven and was prepared to pass into the next life because he knew Jesus Christ as his savior.  One of his favorite passages was John 14:1-6:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.  And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.  Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Jack knew and lived the Gospel: that we are all sinners, that the wages of sin is death, separation from God in eternity, and that it was Christ's death on the cross that paid that wage for us.  That's why he believed John 3:16 with all his heart:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The second part of that saying on the t-shirt is a tribute to veterans, who died for the freedoms we enjoy in this great country.  Perhaps the most impactful event during his military service was when his company was one of the first to arrive at the Buchenwald concentration camp.  This was a TRUE concentration camp.  Jack was passionate that people remember and not deny the holocaust.  When he opened up about his WW2 experiences only about 15 years ago, he wrote the following:

"Please, please never allow yourselves to say this (the holocaust) never happened for believe me it did.  this really shows what a world without God will be like and to me really shows a small segment of what the book of Revelation says is coming.  But by God's grace and our acceptance of Jesus Christ as personal savior we won't have to go thru it.  I love you all and hope to see you again soon if not on earth, then in heaven.  Signed John S. Lorber, serial number 33860651."

Jack is survived by Blanche, his wife of over 70 years, his son Jack, Jr. of Bremerton, Washington, his daughter, Elaine Snyder of Melbourne, another daughter, Pamela Durocher of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, 10 grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren.  He will be greatly missed.