Copyright 2006 Denver Publishing Company
By FELIX DOLIGOSA JR.
Rocky Mountain News (Colorado)
The scars and bandages Jack Jaynes sported many nights might have given his two teenage sons a clue about the danger their dad faced at work.
But Denver’s former assistant fire chief wasn’t one to boast about his heroics.
He never talked to his boys about the broken rib he suffered when he fell down an open manhole as he ran to bring a hose to a fire in a darkened alley. Or the broken arm and bruises that served as a painful reminder of a wall that collapsed inside a burning home.
“He was trying to protect us from worry and anxiety,” said his son, Jack Jaynes. “We’re only hearing about the stories now.”
Over the past weeks, however, many of those tales have come to life, with firefighters who worked alongside the former assistant chief during his 45-year career sharing their memories with Mr. Jaynes’ family.
Mr. Jaynes died April 9 as a result of heart failure. He was 89.
Those who knew him say the Denver native showed a remarkable ability to balance his devotion to his family with a tireless work ethic.
In fact, it was the love of a woman that led Mr. Jaynes into the firefighting business.
Mr. Jaynes was born at Mercy Hospital in 1916. His mother died three days after his birth. Growing up during the Depression, Mr. Jaynes relied on more distant relatives for support.
He attended West High School, where he would find his true love. One day, his cousin showed him a picture of a new classmate from Utah. After one look at Elizabeth Carlson, Mr. Jaynes vowed he would marry her.
Mr. Jaynes and Carlson dated long after graduation. He worked with her father at the Rio Grande Railroad.
Carlson had told him that she would not marry him until he made more money than her dad. He knew he could not earn much laboring on the railroads.
In 1941, ads for Denver police officer positions caught Mr. Jaynes’ eye. He went to the Civil Service Commission building only to learn the positions were filled.
But the fire department had openings.
“It paid $5 more than a policeman,” said his son. “He was like, ‘Where do I sign?’ ”
With a salary of $145 a month, Mr. Jaynes soon married his high school sweetheart.
The couple had their first child, Earl, in 1941. The family was separated for a short time when Mr. Jaynes was drafted into the Navy in 1945. A seaman first class, Jaynes was stationed in Oklahoma but never went aboard ship.
Known to rarely miss a day of work, Mr. Jaynes was also a faithful spectator at family members’ football games and music recitals.
“If you had an athletic event or award assembly, he would be there,” said his son, Jack Jaynes. “If he was on duty, he would get permission from work.”
For many of his sons’ wrestling matches, Mr. Jaynes would stand in the back of the gym dressed in his firefighter uniform holding a walkie-talkie.
“He was an excellent father,” his sons said.
But it’s their father’s history with the department that make the Jaynes boys the most proud.
There was the time Mr. Jaynes hesitated to take another step inside a burning building. As he paused, a metal beam came crashing down in front of him, knocking the flashlight out of his hand.
And the time former Denver Fire Chief Myrle Wise was left unconscious inside a Safeway warehouse when an incinerator fire crumbled the roof in the late 1950s. Mr. Jaynes crawled through burning floors and under stacks of canned food to drag his colleague from danger.
Wise remembers opening his eyes and seeing his fellow firefighter and a pastor who was getting ready to read him his last rites.
Wise said he was not surprised a “smoke eater” like Mr. Jaynes wouldn’t tell his sons about the rescue.
“In the firefighter fraternity, you don’t brag,” Wise said. “When it comes to saving someone, it’s just something firemen do.”
Mr. Jaynes considered retiring in 1985, but his wife’s death from cancer changed his plans. He told the Rocky Mountain News the next year, “There was no incentive to go home.”
He ended his career in 1986 at age 70 because of the mandatory retirement age law.
Mr. Jaynes was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Jaynes, and granddaughter Jessica Jaynes. He is survived by sons, Jack, of Westminster, and Earl Jaynes, of Littleton; six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held last Thursday at Fort Logan Natioanl Cemetery. Donations can be made to the Shepherd of Love Fellowship at 13550 Lowell Blvd., Broomfield, CO 80020.