Jack Everett

Jack V. Everett, age 92, of Goodyear, AZ and Colorado Springs, CO., passed away peacefully on August 12, 2013 at his summer home on Ottertail Lake, MN. Jack lived in Duluth, MN for most of his professional career working as a Consulting Mining Geologist. He was born to the late Clarence J. Everett and Vera Veeder Everett on May 28, 1921 in Roseburg, OR; they moved to Kalamazoo, MI when Jack was one year old. They lived there for 7 years and moved to Detroit during the Great Depression, and then to East Lansing, MI where he graduated from East Lansing High School in 1939.

Jack enrolled at Michigan State in the class of 1944 in wildlife management, conservation and zoology, but later chose to major in geology. World War II interrupted his studies and he enlisted on June 6, 1942 in ROTC in field artillery with basic training at Fort Bragg, NC, and was called for active duty on April 16, 1943. He married Eleanor Brown Everett, class of ’44, from Onaway, Michigan at that time. The Army needed infantry officers and on May 6, 1944 sent his entire class to be retained as infantry officers at Fort Benning, GA. On July 18, 1944 he was assigned as a cadre training officer at Fort Meade, MD. After the Japanese surrendered, on September 3, 1945 he received orders to be transferred to Japan and was assigned to serve in the occupation forces of the 77th Division in Hakodate on the northern island of Hokkaido. He was discharged out of the service on September 5, 1946. He went back to MSU and graduated in 1947 with a B.S. degree, cum laude, in Geology. Honors included Phi Kappa Phi for scholastic, Sigma Gamma Epsilon for geologic, and Tau Sigma for scientific. He was a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Jack later served in various U. S. Army Reserve and Minnesota National Guard units in Brainerd and Duluth, and retired as a Major in June of 1972.

Jack’s professional career started when he was hired as a District Geologist for Pickands Mather & Co. on the Minnesota Cuyuna Iron Range where he discovered four iron – manganese deposits near Emily, MN. These deposits are currently being developed for their manganese ore potential. In 1951 he took a position with W.S. Moore Company as Chief Geologist & Exploration Manager and moved to Duluth, MN. During the 50s and 60s he conducted exploration programs for iron ore deposits in various locations across the United States and Canada, and also Parana, Brazil.

In the 1960s he conducted major prospecting programs in unmapped areas of the Northwest Territories exploring for gold deposits from Yellowknife to the Arctic coast and was quoted as saying that for 20 years, he spent 50% of his life living in tents. He also conducted exploration programs in Northern MN and discovered one major copper nickel deposit. Jack started a career as a Certified Professional Geologist in 1971 and worked for more than 100 US and Canadian mining companies as an independent consulting geologist. He conducted exploration programs for copper and gold deposits in Wisconsin. Jack was an avid hunter and fisherman. Although he supported mining, he was a conservationist and supported preservation of unique natural resources and was on the Governor Elmer L. Andersen committee as a consulting geologist and first chair of the Duluth Chapter of the Citizens Committee for the establishment of Voyageurs National Park. In the 1980s he explored and developed placer gold deposits in Alaska. In later years he worked on a variety of geology, geotechnical and hydrology projects, including the tunnel projects on the North Shore of Lake Superior for the MnDOT. In 1995 he became Vice President-Exploration & Director of Leadville Mining and Milling Corp. where he was involved with the development, geology and exploration of their underground gold mine near Leadville, CO. More recently he worked on the geology and development of El Chanate Gold Project in Sonora, Mexico as a Director for Capital Gold Corporation. And most recently he has been working on the geology and development of Lake Victoria Gold deposit in Tanzania, Africa. He always joked that he planned to retire soon.

Jack was married to Eleanor Brown Everett for 27 years and raised four sons. He was married to Carol Engebretson for 6 years, and Frances Endahl Everett for 30 years, who passed away on December 20, 2006. Jack is survived by his wife, Dorothy Ness Everett, of Battle Lake, MN. He is survived by his sons William (Sandra) Everett, Hibbing, MN; Bruce (Kristine Swift) Everett, Pine City, MN; Karl (Kerry) Everett, Duluth, MN; James (Clair) Everett, Wyoming, MN; and ten grandchildren: Julie (Mark) Spiering, Brent (Jessica) Everett, David (Kara) Everett, Heather (Tim) Pierce, Patrick Everett, Anna (Aaron) Beek, Renata Everett, Kailey Everett, and Sarah Everett, Weston Everett; 9 great-grandchildren: Nathan, Aaron, Aidan, Ryland , Autumn, Kyle, Hannah, Lila and Sebastian; Judith (Stephen) Mages and children Stephanie and Justin, and Robert (Ramona) Allen.

The MEMORIAL SERVICE is scheduled 1:00 PM, Friday, August 23, 2013; at Zion Lutheran Church of Amor, Battle Lake, MN; Clergy: Reverend Jim Gronbeck and Reverend Art Johnson
Interment: Lakewood Cemetery, Crosby-Ironton, MN. Olson Funeral Home in Fergus Falls is in charge of the arrangements. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his honor to the Ralph Marsden Chair in Economic Geology at the University of Minnesota Duluth, SCSE Development Office, 140 Engineering Building, 1303 Ordean Court, Duluth, MN 55812.