Maurice J. “Jack” Grainger, 94, born in Brooklyn, NY on November 29, 1927, died October 30, 2022, after a brief illness. Raised by his mother, Lucille C. Grainger, and his grandfather, Henry E. Colton, Jack attended a one room school in Sharon Station, NY and high school in Windsor, CT. He returned to New York where he graduated from Manhattan High School of Aviation Trades.
Enlisting in the U.S. Navy in the spring of 1945, he served on the USS Enterprise, as a Plane Captain maintaining a Grumman F6F-5 fighter plane in the Pacific. He later served onboard the USS Guam, preparing the aircraft catapults for long term storage. Upon the completion of that task, he was an Admiral’s Chauffeur until his discharge in 1946.
In the spring of 1947, he moved to Orleans, MA, on Cape Cod, and worked in several local garages and gas stations, where he met and married his first wife and mother of his children, Jillian Crosman. In the spring of 1950, Jack bought and owned and operated his own Esso Service station. At that time, he was the youngest Esso dealer in New England at age 22.
Wanting to return to aviation, he sold out and moved back to NYC, and was hired by Pan American World Airways on September 19, 1955. He served as a Flight Engineer until the company went out of business in December 1991. At that time, he was the President of the Flight Engineer’s International Association AFL-CIO – Pan American Chapter. Following the demise of Pan Am, he was employed by American International Airways flying again all over the world until retirement in 1996. After his retirement from scheduled airline flying, he inspected and ferried Boeing 747’s for maintenance worldwide. His last “big airplane” flight was a test flight in Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 25, 2005.
In late 1997, he and his wife, Joy A. Reese, moved to The Spruce Creek Fly-In, in Port Orange, FL, for the winters and spent summers on Cape Cod. Following Joy’s death in October 2001, he continued to live in the Spruce Creek Fly-In where he met and married Myra S. Blackburn, who died in February 2020.
Jack is survived by his children Jeanne Grainger Hasenmiller (Steve) of Scottsdale, AZ, Anne Grainger Tompkins of Snohomish, WA and her children, Laura and Sarah, and David C. Grainger (Julie) of Eagle, ID, and his children, Colton, and Melanie.
No religious ceremony or memorial services are planned, per Jack’s request. Contributions in Jack’s name can be made to the Pan Am Museum Foundation, 1 Davis Ave., Garden City, NY 11530.