Jack Neuzil

Jack Neuzil, 94, longtime resident of Solon, died Saturday, April 19, 2025, at the Solon Nursing Care Center.

Jack was born on November 25, 1930, to Otto F. and Ella (Miller) Neuzil in Iowa City, the fourth of seven children. The family lived on a farm west of Iowa City and Jack attended the country school on the IWV Road for two years before moving to University Heights Elementary and High School, graduating in 1948.

After high school graduation, he worked in a cabinet shop for one year, spending part of his free time playing basketball in local leagues. A coach at another Iowa City High School was hired at Northern Illinois State Teachers College (now University) in Dekalb, Ill., and recruited Jack to play for the college.

The Korean War broke out while Jack was at Northern Illinois; upon graduation, he was selected for Officers’ Candidates School in Newport, R.I., one of two men from each state given that honor. As an Ensign and engineering officer, he was assigned to the USS LST 1159 Tom Greene County in the western Pacific theater in 1952. He served in Korea, China, Japan and Vietnam. His ship was the last to leave Haiphong Harbor in what was French Indochina in 1954, the day before it fell to the Communist forces and was declared North Vietnam. Released from active duty in 1957, he remained in the reserves for four years. He received several awards for his service, including a Combat Action Ribbon and a Vietnam Service Medal.

He married Frances Gillette of Fostoria, Iowa, on June 7, 1957, in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Milford, Iowa. The couple has four children: Mark, Renee, Paul and Beth.

He taught at Eldora High School before finishing a masters’ degree at the University of Northern Colorado in 1960. For six years, he directed vocational classes at the Iowa Men’s Reformatory in Anamosa, Iowa, before helping create of Area Ten Community College (now Kirkwood) in Cedar Rapids. At Kirkwood, he served as head of the department of trade and industrial education for 25 years. After retiring from Kirkwood, Jack started Neu-Air, a company created to build, sell and develop two of his U.S. patents for heat exchangers. In 1989, he was named Innovator of the Year by the League for Innovation of Community Colleges in the United States.

In his free time, he built wooden dinosaurs for the Iowa Braille and Sight-Saving School in Vinton to encourage students there to read. Jack went on to build more than 100 wooden dinosaurs of all sizes, leaving them at elementary schools for two weeks to encourage reading; he then returned as “the Dinosaur Man,” giving presentations to thousands of children in eastern Iowa as part of a learn-toread program. He went on dinosaur digs with some of the leading paleontologists in the U.S. and Canada.

His public service included numerous county and state boards, including two terms on the Johnson County Zoning Commission. He built the wooden altar and ambo at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Solon, Iowa, and the altar for the chapel at the former Mercy Hospital in Iowa City, as well as the wooden trim at the Solon Public Library. He enjoyed fishing with friends and building round barns. He gave tractor rides at Wilson’s Apple Orchard well into his 80s.

He is survived by his wife, Fran; siblings Virginia, Martha, Gregory and Jerry; his four children, Mark (Amy Kuebelbeck) of St. Paul, Minnesota; Renee (Ken Finn) of Escondido, California; Paul (Amy) of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Beth (Bob Mullins) of Florissant, Missouri, along with eight grandchildren, Grant Finn (Evie Song), Grace Finn, Elena Neuzil (Charlie Birge), Maria Neuzil, Matthew Neuzil, Kate Mullins, Alex Mullins, and one great-grandchild, Vera Neuzil-Birge. He was preceded in death by siblings Robert and Mary and an infant grandson, Gabriel Neuzil.

Funeral Mass will be held at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 10:30 a.m., Thursday, April 24, 2025. There will be a one-hour visitation beforehand. Brosh Chapel and The Avacentre in Solon is in charge of arrangements.

Donations to the St. Croix Hospice or Solon Senior Support.

Online condolences may be expressed to the family at www.broshchapel.com