Birth Name: John Howard Swain
Birth Date: 06/10/1942
Birth Place: Sterling, Colorado
Date of Death: 04/29/2026
Place of Death: Carson City, Nevada
John Howard “Jack” (Swain) Mayer – The Mystery Man – At Least to Me
My friend, “Jack” Mayer, died while picking up his mail on April 29, 2026. The date I found on Ancestry.com. A neighbor apparently noticed Jack had not returned home for a day or two and went looking for him. Jack was found, in his car, at his mailbox. His death, I’m told, was ruled a heart attack.
His family chose not to submit an obituary or death notice to the local newspaper and I’m a great believer that everyone needs an acknowledgment of death. I decided to write an obit for him. Then I realized that although I had known Jack since I was a child in grammar school, I really didn’t know much of anything about him. He called me on a regular basis for years – “just checking,” but although I thought I knew him, I didn’t. I did what I always do when I need information. I searched the internet, specifically Ancestry.com and there I learned:
Jack was born, John Howard Swain in Sterling Colorado. His mother, Rita, was a hair dresser and his father, John Howard Swain, was a musician in a band. The family moved to Los Angeles California where Jack’s younger brother, Mark, was born in 1945. Marriages don’t always last and this one didn’t. Jack’s parents divorced in 1946. In 1947, Marguerita Delores Mink Swain married Hamilton Mayer. In 1949, Jack’s father was killed in a plane crash and Jack and his brother, Mark, were adopted by Hamilton Mayer in 1951 in Elko, NV. Soon after the Mayers moved to Carson City, NV. I met Jack in grade school when we were students at the old sandstone Carson Elementary School located on the corner of King Street and Nevada Streets and we moved together through grades until H.S. graduation.
But back to Jack. Jack loved horses and I believe cars. He hung around with his “horse” friends throughout school. He dated but I don’t recall that he was “into” any sports other than riding and roping horses. Jack graduated from Carson High School in June of 1960 and at age eighteen married Michele Lee who also attended Carson High School. It was a short lived marriage. In January of 1967, Jack married Jeannette Fae Legoski, a native of Wyoming. Jeanne had been hired by the Carson City School district to teach elementary school. Jack and Jeannie continue to live in Carson City for the remainder of their lives. They had two children, Tony and Shelly who attended Carson City schools and chose to relocate their lives in other places. Jeannie died of cancer in 2014 and Jack lost his best friend.
I’m not sure if that was when Jack began checking up on his friends on a regular basis but it could be. He’d call and want all the gossip on whatever classmates we had been in touch with. He would tell tall stories and talk about fishing on his boat at Lake Tahoe (usually he’d invite whomever it was he was talking with to join him), riding on his ATV through the hills surrounding Carson City and throughout Nevada. He always talked about horses and always owned more than a few. He was still riding horses into his eighties. He had to use a stool to get into the saddle but he got there. And then his life ended on April 29th, 2026. No funeral, no obituary, no death notice, nothing. He deserved better and so my tribute to him.
I last talked with Jack on April 21st which I remember vividly because it was my birthday and I was in Hilton Head, South Carolina. I was having lunch with cousins and my daughter when he called and I talked with him for about 10 minutes or so. I planned on contacting him when I returned home in a few days. I never had the opportunity. And now, of course, it’s too late.
RIP Jack!
