Obituaries

Jeffery Knight Warner

On Sunday, January 12^th we lost our dear husband, father, and friend.

Jeffery Knight Warner was born on April 11, 1942 to Lt. Col Victor E. Warner, Jr. (Ret) and Harriet Warner (nee Dwight) in Boise, Idaho. The son of an Army officer, he grew up with older brother Steve and younger sister Randy in Hawaii, Germany, England, California, and finally settled in Northern Virginia during high school. He graduated from McLean High School in 1960 where he excelled in football and was voted “most popular” by his senior class. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point where he played football and soccer, wrestled, and was the president of the skydiving club. Upon graduation in 1964 he was commissioned in the Infantry and attended Airborne and Ranger schools. He first saw combat in April 1965 while deployed to the Dominican Republic for Operation Power Pack as a heavy weapons platoon leader with the 1/508^th Infantry Regiment of the 82^nd airborne division. From 1966-67 he served with the 25^th Infantry Division in Vietnam as a combat infantry officer and Company Commander.

Upon return from his first tour he was temporarily stationed at Ft. Monmouth, NJ where he first met the love of his life and wife of 50 years. He returned to Vietnam as an advisor with MACV from 1968-69. Two weeks after he returned home, he and Gloria were married. After advanced infantry officer training at Fort Benning, Jeff and Gloria were stationed at Ft. Carson, CO where they quickly fell in love with the mountains and began their family with the birth of their daughters Jennifer in 1971 (deceased 1973) and Michelle in 1974. In 1975 he transitioned to the Army Reserve attaining the rank of Major, and joined Proctor & Gamble as a manufacturing engineer and manager. He began his 25-year career with P&G in Missouri. In 1977, their son Michael was born. In 1981, Jeff and Gloria moved the family to northeastern Pennsylvania and resided there for 39 years.

Jeff was a passionate adventurer and loved the challenge of pushing himself to his physical and mental limits. He was a multi-engine commercial pilot, advanced skydiver, scuba diver, sailor, mountain climber, and marathoner. With a calm demeaner and infectious smile, he always welcomed the next challenge or adventure. Jeff was most happy sharing his adventures with his family and friends and loved spending time with them in the mountains around the world, especially during his retirement. He loved travelling around the world with Gloria to spend time with family and friends in new and exciting places.

Jeff was also deeply committed to service. He volunteered with the Boy Scouts for over 30 years and helped many young men attain their Eagle Scout. He helped build the Goose Pond C.O.P.E. program and loved guiding groups through the teambuilding high and low ropes courses. Jeff was very active in his church where he served in many volunteer roles including deacon. Jeff served on a medical missions trip to Kenya, and he and Gloria joined their church on several missions trips to South Africa, Mexico, and China. Jeff also put his mechanical skills to work fixing wheelchairs at Allied Health for many years.

Jeff valued and savored time spent with family and friends and was well known for engaging conversations lasting for hours. He was humble and strong with a quiet and confident demeanor. With Jeff around you always felt safe and knew that you would be taken care of no matter how hard things seemed. His warm loving smile and tender hugs will be greatly missed as he joins Jennifer, his “little angel,” in eternal life.

Jeff is survived by his wife of 50 years, Gloria (nee Manganelli), their daughter Michelle and her husband Theo Collins, son Michael and his wife Zoë Warner, 6 grandchildren (Ty and wife Kirsten, Devin, Payton, Aiden, Sophie, and Will), brother Lt. Col. Stephen Dwight Warner, sister Randell (Randy) Warner and her husband and son Barry and Tasso Feldman, and many nephews and nieces.

Jeff’s family extends a special thanks to the caregivers and other families at Silverado Memory Care in St. Charles, Illinois. Services will be announced at a later date.

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