Col. Jim Wansack, husband, father, and grandfather, died at home in Dayton, Ohio, on Friday, Dec. 16, 2022, at the age of 77.
James Karl Wansack was born on Sept. 18, 1945. He grew up in Campbell, Ohio, with parents Matt and Julie, and brothers Matthew (d. 1968) and Gerald. Jim was raised as a Byzantine Catholic, and he served as an altar boy at his family’s church, St. Michael’s. He was an Eagle Scout. He loved baseball from an early age, and talked his way onto the 5-year-olds’ team at age 4; one of his teams would go on to win the Ohio Little League Championship. Jim played baseball at Hiram College, where he was catcher and co-captain of the team. In 1993, Jim was inducted into the Hiram College Hollinger Hall of Fame for his accomplishments.
At Hiram, Jim met his future wife, Janet MacMackin. They married on June 22, 1968, in Enid, Okla., a few months before Jim’s deployment to Vietnam. Jim had joined the Air Force after graduating from college, and immediately went into pilot training. In Vietnam, Jim flew C-7 Caribou cargo planes, transporting military supplies and, sometimes, the remains of fallen soldiers. Remarkably, he noted that the planes in Vietnam would land on runway supports, some of which he had helped make while working to finance his college education in the steel mills of Youngstown in the summer.
Jim was an excellent pilot, and also flew KC-135 refueling tankers out of Okinawa, Japan, where his and Janet’s growing family were stationed during the Vietnam War. The Wansacks came back to the States in 1974, and moved, like many military families, to multiple bases around the country. Jim’s military career also included time spent as a program manager of complex programs such as flight simulators and planes, most notably the X-29 fighter jet. In 1993, Jim retired from the USAF as a colonel. He then began a second career as a defense contractor, working for TASC, Northrop Grumman, and PE Systems. He retired full-time in 2012.
In retirement, Jim enjoyed traveling with his wife, hunting, and fishing. He also loved carpentry and building things for his family in his home workshop. Jim loved a complex challenge, and constructed a multi-layered train system in the basement, with a different railway line assigned to each of his eight grandchildren. In addition, since 1993, he spent a part of every summer maintaining or improving the two family cottages on East Chop. Multiple friendships were made as people walked by and checked up on whatever new project he had begun.
Jim is survived by his wife of 54 years, Janet; their children, Andrew (Traci) Wansack, Heather Schaller, and Karen (Mark) Bertulli; their grandchildren, Caroline, A.J., and Mary Wansack, Samantha and Sophia Schaller, and Theodore, Reid and Elle Bertulli; his brother Gerald (Debbie); and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
A funeral Mass was held on Dec. 29, 2022, at Incarnation Church in Centerville, Ohio. He will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. If you wish, donations may be made to the Michael J Fox Foundation, online at bit.ly/MJFFdonation.