James Arlon Jenkins' Obituary
James Arion Jenkins, born April 3, 1918 near Checotah, Oklahoma to Manuel and Pearl Jenkins. A true boy of the country, Arlon did not graduate from high school but traveled with his family around N.E. Oklahoma, through Kansas to Idaho finding work where they could. The family returned to Salina and built a rough log cabin near Wickliff. With no work to be found, Arion ventured to Colorado to a CC Camp there. It did not work out and he returned to his family and later joined the USMC. After boot camp at San Diego, he was stationed in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor. Life was great, three squares and a bunk until the Japanese attack. WWII had begun. (His military record and video story can be found in the Library of Congress at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/bib/loc.natlib.afc200100l.46248 and at the Tulsa Aero Space Museum) He spent the next four years island hopping in the Pacific campaign on Guam, Guadalcanal, and Iwo Jima. He was being loaded to invade Japan when the Atomic bombs were dropped. After the Japanese surrender, he was not released to return home but was sent to occupy Japan. While there, he saw firsthand the destruction in Nagasaki. He was later discharged with disability from stomach ulcers and returning bouts of malaria. Finally home, he married Gladys Mae (Mickie) Hubert from Pryor, OK and had four children. Having operated heavy equipment during WWII, he found work with a contractor building the Will Rogers Turnpike. When that section was complete, travel would be required but with a family started, he decided to attend Okmulgee Tech for Shoe Repair instead. He opened his own shoe repair shop in Dawson, OK. Still battling the effects of ulcers and malaria, he had to close his shop and try working when he could in other shops. He eventually landed a job as custodian for Tulsa Public Schools at Burbank Elementary. He saw that with his past equipment experience and his interest was with the boilers and HVAC systems at the school. Arlon began taking mail order courses toward a mechanical engineering license. Finally obtaining his 3rd Class Engineering license, he landed a job in the Philtower Building in downtown Tulsa. He continued studies until he received his 1st Class license. He then landed a job at the Tulsa Airport Authority. He remained there for 18 years until here tired in 1983. Arlon has enjoyed a very long retirement. He loved gardening, playing guitar and singing, hunting, fishing and working in his workshop building model houses. He had a mountain cabin near Smithville, OK in south east Oklahoma where he spend many days hunting and trail riding on mini bikes. Prior to retirement however he had many building projects such as building a houseboat to use for weekend fishing trips. He even took this boat many miles down the Kerr McClellan Navigation System through various locks stopping short of the Mississippi river. He is preceded in death by his parents, Manual and Pearl Jenkins and wife, Gladys Mae (Mickie), daughter Carolyn Sue Liptrap of Woodlands, TX, his son, Jimmy Dean of Tulsa, son-in-law Mark Metzger of Tulsa, and Sisters, Helen Thompson of Vinita and Reda Gilley of Mountain Grove, Mo. He is survived by daughters, Shirley Metzger of Grove, Irene and husband Tom Green of Owasso, grandchildren, Terrie Bogle of Oklahoma City, Judy and husband Pat Mitchell of Tulsa, Robert Comstock of Tulsa, Tom McCarver and wife Amber of Bixby, Great Grandchildren, Shelby, Eryn, Jessica, Tammie, Dalton, Levi, and Great-Great Grandchildren, Jayden and Riley.
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