I am lucky to know more than a few people who have touched my life in a positive way. Certainly, my father was a giant in my life as he was a wonderful role model and even though he’s gone now, I still think of him every day. He was a great husband, father, grandfather, and dentist. Some professors I had in college have also been people I looked up to and tried to emulate. And some people I didn’t know personally have also been excellent examples. I have read hundreds of biographies of great men and women for insights into their lives. I’ve always admired John D. Rockefeller, Sr., a self-made entrepreneur and philanthropist, a wonderful family man, and scrupulously honest. C. Edmund Kells was a dentist, inventor, and author who entered his father’s practice in the late 1800s as I entered my dad’s practice in the late 1900s.
Although I’m sure he didn’t know it (he was quite modest), Jack Jurden was a role model of mine. Unfortunately, Jack passed away on March 17, 2015 at the age of 88, but what a wonderful life he led. He and his lovely wife Faye (who passed away a few years ago) met my parents through mutual friends in the 1980s and later became patients in our practice. Before I met him, my parents told me all about Jack, who was the full-time editorial cartoonist for the News Journal. The four of them would be out to dinner at a restaurant and in a period of five or ten minutes, unbeknownst to my parents, he would be constructing an ingenious and hilarious cartoon about them – with perfect likenesses – on a used dinner napkin and then surprise them with the napkin! My dad was so impressed that he would frame the dirty napkin. (When he found out, Jack would kindly offer to remake the cartoon on a clean piece of paper.) When I joined the practice in 1986, Jack and Faye were very kind to me, even though I was the “new kid.”
Everyone works to make a living, and Jack made a good living, supporting his wife and family. But Jack worked not only to make a living, but also because he loved doing what he did. Creativity coursed through his veins, and he had to express it every day in the form of witty and insightful cartoons. His cartoons still grace the walls of everywhere from presidential museums to bungalows to dental offices (including ours).
Jack was a great family man, and along with Faye raised two girls into successful women: Jennifer, a graphic artist and professional cartoonist herself, and Jan, chief judge of Superior Court and a talented amateur cartoonist also — the creativity is in their genes. Like Jack and Faye, Tina and I are now in the process of raising two girls (12 and 10 years old now) who we hope will also be successful women one day.
Jack was Dr. Peggy’s patient for more than the last ten years, and the two developed a warm friendship, often going to lunch together. The four decades difference in ages didn’t matter – Jack’s warmth and personality transcended age.
It was an honor and a privilege to know personally the man who conceived the funny and insightful cartoons that our family read every day in the newspaper. Although he would tell my parents and me that he couldn’t understand why we would want to frame a random cartoon he drew on a dinner napkin, the confusion was mutual: I would tell him that I couldn’t understand how he could think up such brilliant ideas sometimes at the spur of a moment. I could sit in a room alone for a week and not be able to conceive a cartoon like he could apparently in just a few minutes. And he had to come up with new ones every day for his job. What a sharp mind he had.
It’s often said that if you enjoy your job, then it’s not work. That’s how I feel about my job – I love being a dentist and running the dental practice (though admittedly, not every single second of it). When I’m not in the office, I’m reading or writing dental journal articles, thinking about how to treat patients better, or buying supplies for it. And it’s not out of a sense of obligation. On the contrary, it’s because I love doing it. So it was with Jack Jurden. He loved what he did. He was constantly thinking up new ideas and putting them down on paper in the form of his cartoons. There was a man who didn’t consider work to be work. Those people who love their jobs are the ones who are the best at them.
When Jack would come to the office, he always had a smile on his face. He had a magnetic personality and would frequently draw cartoons during his visit of the staff at the office. He was literally larger than life, and he was bursting with energy. Even though he was a celebrity in Delaware, he treated everyone in the office with kindness.
There are some men that I admire because when I think about their lives, I think to myself, “That man lived a good life.” Jack Jurden lived a good life. Rest in peace, Jack. I miss you.
You can get an idea of Jack Jurden from some of these cartoons. Note that he drew wonderful cartoons about Dr. Peggy’s children, Zoe and Grace. Not only were they funny and drawn well – they were so thoughtful! And when he couldn’t make lunch with Peggy one day, he drew her a funny cartoon: “She can get on my nerves any time!” Hilarious!
