John Douglas Jueckstock

John Douglas Jueckstock of Taylors, South Carolina was delivered from the body of this death into the presence of his master and redeemer, Jesus Christ, on Sunday, September 15, 2024 while under home hospice care. John was born in Detroit, Michigan, to Glenaire Frederick and Helen Dell Jueckstock on May 6, 1947. The youngest of five siblings, born after his parents’ mid-life conversions to faith in Jesus Christ, John grew up in an imperfectly but undeniably God-centered home and professed his own faith in Christ at the age of ten. Energetic but earnest and conscientious, John was actively involved in church and camp ministries as a youth and began to sense a call to Christian service. Despite being told by his high school career counsellor that he was “not college material,” John attended Appalachian Bible College, graduating in 1970. His first year there—shy, and struggling to control a nervous stutter—he met a reserved and virtuous senior named Judy Anderson. His bashfulness dissipated as they sang together in the chorale and became first good friends, then a courting couple, but his reverent esteem for her virtue and grace would remain undiminished until death parted them 54 years after their marriage on January 1, 1970. With Judy’s loyal support and frequent assistance, John continued his education with a bachelor’s in music (voice performance) from Bethel College in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1973; a master’s in music (choral conducting) from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado in 1974; and a doctorate of musical arts (musicology) from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Forth Worth, Texas in 1984. His dissertation, The Complete Works of Jeremias Dencke, garnered effusive praise from the director of the Moravian Music Foundation, who declared: “No finer musicological research has ever been done in the field of Moravian music.” John served as minister of music in multiple churches over the years in addition to his academic posts as music faculty at Southeastern Bible College in Birmingham Alabama from 1974 to 1979 and Appalachian Bible College in Bradley, West Virginia from 1985 to 1988. Shortly after the birth of their only child, Jordan Philip, in 1986, John and Judy perceived the call of God to the mission field in Italy, where John labored to typeset and publish sacred music for the small and under-supported evangelical churches and ministries of that predominantly Roman Catholic land. They lived in Italy from 1991 to 2005. Upon their return to the United States, John embarked on a second career as a distance learning technician at Bob Jones University Press. Trial and tribulation marked John’s final years. After nearly losing Judy to bacterial meningitis in 2014, John suffered a crippling stroke in 2019 that forced his retirement and left him house-bound and wracked by nearly constant pain. Particularly hard was John’s penultimate trial: the unexpected and rapid decline of his bride’s health, culminating in her death of cancer in July 2024, just weeks before his own fatal series of final strokes. Throughout all this, though frequently battling spiritual depression and mental lethargy, John steadfastly refused to question the wisdom or love of God’s providence, and, to the end, he remained tender of conscience and readily encouraged by the hearing of the Word or the singing of hymns. John was known for his exceptionally close bond with and sacrificial love for his wife; his unassuming commitment to serve God rather than mammon; his exquisitely clear and richly resonant singing voice; his astonishing range of practical skills and fearless will to learn new ones “on the job”; his uncompromising commitment to excellence in all that he did; his refusal to sacrifice either his principles or his temper when brought, always reluctantly, into conflict with others; and his sincere interest in and warmth toward everyone he interacted with. He is predeceased by his parents; his eldest sister, Judy Olsen; his brother-in-law, Doug Hartson; and his treasured bride, Judy Josephine. He is survived by sister Glenna (Giles) Goforth, brother George (Peggy) Jueckstock, sister Elisabeth Hartson, numerous beloved nieces and nephews, son Jordan Philip and cherished daughter-in-law Jessica Esther, and the grandchildren who put a smile on his face to the very end: John David, Josephine Kay, Jadyn Marie, and Jedidiah LaRoy. His funeral service will be held on Saturday, September 21st, at Faith Free Presbyterian Church, 1207 Haywood Road, Greenville, South Carolina, at 1 o’clock p.m. The family will receive friends at the church prior to the service beginning at noon. A graveside committal service will follow at Coleman Memorial Cemetery in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. The service will be streamed live at https://faithfpc.org/live.

John Douglas Jueckstock

May 6, 1947 - September 15, 2024