John "Jack" Benjamin Weyrauch died peacefully in his sleep at Aspirus Wausau Hospital on December 21, 2025, at the age of 74, after spending a happy day visiting with his beloved family members.
Jack is survived by his children, Daniel Thornton-Weyrauch of Chicago, Ill., William Thornton-Weyrauch of Eagle River, Wis., and John Thornton-Weyrauch of Hillsboro, Oregon; and his wife of thirty-seven years, Mary Anna Thornton. Jack was a devoted and loving husband and father and had an especially close and caring relationship with his three sons. Jack is also survived by siblings he dearly loved, Meegan (Mike) of Crawfordsville, Indiana, Bill (Connie) of Tigard, Oregon, and Mary of West Chicago, Illinois, as well as many other treasured friends; in-laws; cousins; nieces; nephews; grandnieces; and grandnephews.
Jack was born on May 9, 1951, in Mattoon, Illinois, to John and Anne (Rosalie) Weyrauch (née Carpenter). Friends and family remember young Jack as a smart, athletic, and mechanically inclined high achiever who excelled in both academics and athletics. He was a top performer in high school football, wrestling, and track; president of the National Honor Society; and captain of the football and wrestling teams. High school and college friends recall he was an especially good listener, with a consistently kind, quiet, and reassuring presence that made him the go-to guy for any dilemma.
As a child of the fifties and sixties, Jack had an adventurous side. While in his twenties and thirties, he wore his hair and beard down to his waist; loved his motorcycle, folk songs, and protest music; and dropped out of college one year to hitchhike around the country. Jack always enjoyed telling stories about how he worked his way through college by living and helping out in the dorm for disabled students, giving his friends joy-rides in their wheelchairs down to the local liquor store.
Jack graduated with honors from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with a BS and a Master's in Architecture, studying in Paris for a year. He was accepted into the Ph.D. program in architecture but instead started his own contracting business, first christened "Nobody's Business", later renamed "Bison Builders". Eventually, Jack decided to find what he referred to as a "real job" and get serious about settling down and starting a family. He cut his hair and began working as Special Project Representative for the Village of Buffalo Grove, where he oversaw the construction of large public work projects, including a golf course, fire and police department, post office, and train station. Jack worked at Buffalo Grove for 15 years, after which he took a job in northern Wisconsin as the Assistant Director of Facilities at a new boarding school under construction, Conserve School.
When Jack retired, he continued to work part-time in maintenance at Camp Nicolet for Girls on Franklin Lake in Eagle River a job he greatly enjoyed. At Conserve School and at Camp Nicolet, Jack was instantly recognizable from a distance by the well-worn Carhartt overalls and tie-dyed t-shirts he lived in.
Throughout his life, family, friends, and relatives have noted Jack's kindness, integrity, compassion, sense of humor, intelligence, and willingness to lend a hand whenever anyone was in need. He was consistently modest and low-key, never expecting to be thanked or to have a fuss made over him. Jack was an exceptionally outstanding caregiver, throwing himself into the role of dad, dirty diapers and all; gently and solicitously taking care of Mary Anna when she went through open heart surgery and a long recovery twelve years ago; and being the best son-in-law ever to his mother-in-law Gerry after her husband Bill passed and she then developed cancer. Jack visited her at the nursing home nearly daily and took her all over in her wheelchair. Gerry was so pleased to spend time with him and to introduce her handsome son-in-law to everyone at the nursing home.
An exceptionally strong, capable, and sturdy man, in the last few years of his life, Jack was struck by a series of rare and life-threatening illnesses. He was expected to pass away several times over the last few years. However, in true Jack fashion, he stayed calm and hopeful through it all, and kept recovering from serious crisis after serious crisis, all the while insisting he was "fine" and that he wanted to do things by himself. Jack remained as sharp as ever during these past few years, building professional-level telescopes from scratch, reading heavy historical tomes, and solving complicated New York Times crossword puzzles. When he wanted to check on his cognitive ability, he'd recite the presidents and first ladies, from start to finish, backwards and forwards. He always got it right.
His doctors called him a medical miracle. In this last crisis, the ICU doctor who cared for him couldn't believe what a remarkably strong man Jack was, and that he never, ever complained. Jack was intubated for five days in the ICU, with a very poor prognosis, and then despite everything came off intubation, sat up, and started talking. The first thing he said was, "I'm okay!" His family had five more precious days to visit with him. Then, without warning, he died peacefully in his sleep. Doctors believe he had a stroke and did not suffer at all. The last thing he said that evening to his wife and sons was, "I love you, and I'll see you in the morning."
Special thanks to the many individuals at Nova Integrated Care (especially Jill Brunstad), Aspirus Eagle River Hospital Physical Therapy and Emergency Departments, Aspirus Wausau Family House, and the Aspirus Wausau ICU for caring for Jack and for family members so kindly and thoughtfully during his illnesses.
Jack's ashes will be interred in St. Agnes Cemetery in Ashland, Wisconsin, in the Thornton family plot, near his in-laws Gerry and Bill Thornton, who loved him dearly. An interment service will be held there once the ground has thawed.
There will be a celebration of life for Jack this summer at Camp Nicolet in Eagle River, date to be determined. Jack's immediate family is looking forward to friends and extended family from near and far joining them there. Jack would surely love the idea of his favorite people enjoying time together at the beautiful spot on Franklin Lake that he loved so much.
In lieu of flowers, we would like to encourage memorial gifts in Jack's honor to the Aspirus Family House in Wausau, Wisconsin, where Jack's immediate family received such kind hospitality during his final illness. Check or money orders can be sent to: Aspirus Health Foundation, 425 Pine Ridge Blvd., Wausau, WI 54401
Please specify on your check or on an attached note "For the Aspirus Family House, in Jack Weyrauch's honor."
