Extracted from The Shreveport Times (Shreveport, LA)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Cecil Jackson “Jack” Poss

SHREVEPORT, LA -- Memorial services celebrating the life of Cecil Jackson (Jack) Poss will by held at 2:00 p.m., Thursday, December 2, 2010, at the chapel of First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport. Officiating will be Reverend Bryan McDowell.

Jack was a kind and gentle man, a loving father and husband. He spread his love of literature to hundreds of students and others he encountered during his careers at Youree Drive Junior High and Southfield High School where he taught English Literature and Poetry. At Southfield High School, he also served as a golf coach, thus enabling him to spend his workdays do what he loved to do. Never considering himself a writer in his own right, Jack authored many poems in the course of his life. His love of the fine arts was not restricted to the written word, as Jack was an accomplished pianist until 1983 when he suffered a traumatic accident that impaired his abilities to play piano and tennis alike. Jack was especially delighted that his grandchildren, Aaron and Brendon Wong, of Beaumont, TX became gifted musicians and composers as young adults.

Following retirement from the U.S. Army, Jack spent his days visiting elderly friends, shut-ins, and sufferers of substance abuse. He made his rounds throughout Shreveport-Bossier, stopping in to provide friendship to fellow retirees, and those in rehabilitation from alcohol and drug abuse. Jack was a lifelong Presbyterian who loved his God and his church community dearly and happily served as deacon at First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport. Jack succeeded in living a Christian life, one full of love, hope and charity.

Later in life, Jack fulfilled a lifelong desire to own redbone coonhounds when he bought two redbone puppies in the Arkansas Ozark Highlands, naming them, Jonathan and Emily, Jonathan after King David's best friend, and one of Jack's favorite poets, Emily Dickinson, Jonathan and Emily remained his constant companions from 1996 until Jonathan's death in 2007. Jack loved all of his pets, and had a particular fondness for his Siamese cats.

Jack was born on September 1, 1935 in Shreveport and died Sunday, November 28, 2010 at the Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home. His parents, Cecil O. Poss and Libbie Tullos, and sister, Betty Burns Charleville, preceded him in death. Surviving him are his wife, Delores “Dee” Poss; daughter, Leslie P. Wong and husband, Robert Poh Wong; sons, Stephen Chandler Poss and James Sanford Poss and their mother, Kathy M. Poss; stepdaughters, Alyssa Vaughn Beck and husband, Brian; Allison Jenet' Vaughn and Ashley Vaughn Kneipp; and grandchildren, Catherine Poss, Jonathan Poss, Aaron Wong, Brendan Wong, Jackson Poss, Charlie Poss and Waylon Daniel Beck; sister, Mary Leah Duran and husband Don; numerous nieces and nephews and special friend, Douglas Miller.

The family extends a special thanks to the entire staff of Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home and Dr. Roy Fleniken for the professional and loving care shown to Jack.

Memorials may be to First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport or Northwest Louisiana War Veterans Home.