Obituary: Jack McCloskey

A memorial Mass for Jack McCloskey, 89, a longtime Hawthorne resident, will be at 11 a.m. Nov. 4 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, at Eighth and A streets in Hawthorne.

Mr. McCloskey died Oct. 13, 2000 in Reno. He was born Sept. 19, 1911, in Goldfield to Hugh G. and Mary Toner McCloskey. He was preceded in death by his parents, a sister Evelyn Adams, brothers George, Frank, Raymond, Robert, Hugh and Thomas, and a sister, Kathleen, who died at birth.

Mr. McCloskey graduated from Tonopah High School in 1925. He worked for the Tonopah Bonanza selling papers and at the Hawthorne News. He and work partner J.W. "Scoop" Conners soon after started the Mineral County Independent. Within two years, the two men bought the Hawthorne News and in 1954, Connors sold his half of the Independent News to Mr. McCloskey.

His political column "Jasper" appeared in nearly every issue of the Independent News.

Mr. McCloskey was appointed to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Lloyd Wilson from Mineral County in the Nevada State Senate in July 1951, where he served one day. He was a charter member of the Hawthorne Elks Lodge No. 1704 and the Hawthorne Lions Club, of which he served a term as president; was a member of the American Legion, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church.

He was awarded the Distinguished Nevadan award from the University of Nevada, Reno in 1969 and was named Mineral County Man of the Year in 1982. He was president of the Nevada State Press Association and was named to the Nevada Newspaper Hall of Fame in 1998. He was invited to participate in the Oral History Program at UNR, which was submitted to the university library in 1982. He was also a veteran of World War II, having served in the U.S. Army.

Among his survivors are his wife of 61 years, Pauline E. McCloskey of Hawthorne; daughter Joan Gazaway and her husband George of Hawthorne; daughter Jean Able of Reno, brother Conrad of Cupertino, Calif., two grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.

Donations may be made to the Lefa F. Seran Skilled Nursing Facility, Mount Grant Hospital, P.O. Box 1510, Hawthorne, 89415.