Roll Call Tribute

Published in (San Antonio) Express-News on Nov. 5, 2013

Milford Jacobs
JACOBS
Milford Nat Jacobs
March 15, 1913
November 2, 2013

Born March 15, 1913 in Luling, Texas, Milford Nat Jacobs loved to tell stories of how his grandfather emigrated from Poland to New York at age eight and peddled on the railroad until he opened a general store in Luling, which Milford's parents, Leon and Bella Mazur Jacobs, would later run. Milford developed an early love of automobiles and the outdoors, but he also experienced discrimination as one of the only Jewish students at his small-town school where he vividly recalled the KKK haunting his family. Milford personified a generation that devoted itself to hard work and family. He spent most of his life in San Antonio, where his family moved in 1926. He attended Texas A&M University, but the Great Depression left his family financially strapped and Milford had to leave college to work full time. Milford remained a die-hard Aggie (Class of '34) for life and attended all Aggie Musters until two years ago. He got his first big break in the auto business when he was just 20 and struck a deal to run a Magnolia service station. But his biggest break came in 1935 when he went to the Toddle House Café with a date and laid eyes on Ada Davis, from Laredo (and someone else's date). "As soon as I saw her something inside me exploded," Milford wrote years later in one of the many letters he typed to their grandchildren (who called him "Guppy"). Milford sold his race boat to buy an engagement ring and in 1938 he married Ada, who he remained head-over-hills enamored of for 71 years, until she died in 2009. Strong willed and salt-of-the-Earth, Milford had modest needs beyond making Ada happy and providing for his family. He never spent late-nights drinking with the guys and preferred his 1940 army-green Packard to fancy cars, his grease-stained overalls to an Armani suit. Rather than spoil his children and grandchildren with material things (which he did later in life, on occasion), he took them to Medina and Canyon Lakes to teach them how to fish and waterski, his favorite hobbies. But above all else, Milford taught his children and grandchildren to work hard, not for the paycheck or the corner office, but for the sense of accomplishment that only a hard day's work can bring. It was that work ethic that took Milford from a gas station attendant making $6 a week to the owner of one of the most successful automotive distribution businesses in South Texas-a business he would run until his employees (gently) forced him to retire in 2006, at the age of 92. Even then, Milford looked for odd jobs, memorized historical facts and typed letters to his grandchildren daily. He believed his mental and physical wellbeing were intrinsically linked and (to Ada's chagrin) went waterskiing at age 85 and rode his bicycle 7 miles a day. After Ada died, Milford moved to Laredo where he perfected the Spanish she tried to teach him and which she was fluent in. (He could scold his caregivers equally well in English or Spanish.) He never took for granted the incredible things he saw in his 100 years and he had an uncanny ability to remember them all. Last year, at the age of 99, Milford wrote up the highlights in a series of essays titled "The First One Hundred Years of Guppy." Milford was spiritual, but never religious in a dogmatic or judgmental way. He read the Bible every day and worked his way up to the highest honor at the Masonic Lodge, with a wall full of ornate hats to prove it. Milford became a more devout Jew because Ada made him, and both were members of Congregation Agudas Achim. Each Passover, Milford caught the fish that Ada would use to make gefilte and he loved to lead his family at the Seder table. But he was tolerant of all religions and races and judged people only on the content of their character, of which Milford had in abundance. Late in life, Milford even found comfort in the writings of evangelical preacher Joel Osteen. (He would replace the word "Jesus" with "God.") Milford is predeceased by his son, Jack, who he loved to go fishing with, his siblings Jennie Mae Becher, Weldon Jacobs and Adriel Rose McGill. He is survived by his adored children: Sandra and Fred Kline, Gary and Jessie Jacobs, and Ronni and Jason Chozick. Milford is also survived by his grandchildren: Scott (Michelle) Kline, Stacy (Adam) Schwartz, Greg Jacobs, Marc (Ana Lee) Jacobs, Lisa (Jeff) Blau, Stefani (Dave) Shanberg, Amy Chozick (Robert Ennis), Maya (Stayton) Gammon, Robin Rogers, and Matthew Jacobs; great-grandchildren: Max, Avery and Kate Blau, Jack Jacobs, Elliott Jacobs, Ryan Kline, Andrew Kline, Emily Levinstone, Jacob, Alisa, Noah and Shayna Schwartz, Natalie and Naomi Rogers. The family wishes to give very heartfelt thanks to Dr. Joaquin Cigarroa, who took extraordinary and excellent care of Milford. The family also thanks Grace Castillo, Milford's primary care giver and her staff of Martha Hernandez, Dolores Gallegos and Hilda Rodriquez. A graveside service was held on Sunday, November 3rd at Agudas Achim Memorial Gardens in San Antonio, TX. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to Boysville, Inc, P. O. Box 369, Converse, TX 78109 www.boysvilletexas.org or Shriners Hospital for Children, 6977 Maine Street, Houston, Texas 77030-3701, Connie S. Boyd, Development scboyd@shrinenet.org.
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