John E. Weins

On Monday morning, June 12, 1922, near the coal mines in Phillipsburg, Montana, John E. Weins was born to James and Grace Weins, the second of three children.
As a child, John was known to his family and friends as “Jackie.” Eventually everyone came to know him as “Jack”, “Grampa Jack” in recent decades.
He attended school in Phillipsburg, Montana, until his family moved to Washington state, where he graduated from Republic High School in 1941.
In 1948, he determinedly won the affections of young and petite Geniece Moore, in Chelan, Washington, and they married on March 15. They soon moved to the Cashmere, where they raised four sons; Mike, Jim, Russ and John.
Jack began a concerted study of the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1948, and soon both he and Geniece were attending meetings at the Kingdom Hall regularly. They were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses in Wenatchee, Washington in 1950. That commitment became the overriding impetus for their entire life-course.
Jack worked hard to provide for his family, as a millworker, a freight driver, and eventually as a sign painter. Having a strong artistic sense, a famously steady hand, and a fast adherence to honesty and personal integrity, he thoroughly enjoyed sign painting until his retirement in 1988.
Grampa Jack fell asleep in death on Thursday morning, May 10, 2018, about 30 days before the 96th anniversary of his birth. He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Jo, his brother Jim, his eldest son Mike, and his third grandson Ephron. He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Geniece, three sons, seven grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.