John McAulay

Funeral Information

Private funeral services were December 21st at the Champagne Funeral Chapel with Rev. Cindy Gibbs officiating, with burial in Caseville Twp. Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Scheurer Hospital. www.ChampagneFuneralChapel.com

Family of the Deceased

Jack is survived by his sisters, Ann (Crawford) Kennedy of Pigeon and Jill (Lonnie) Hedley of Elkton. He is also survived by his niece, Kristin (Mike Prosowski) Hedley of Elkton, and a nephew, Lonnie Hedley of Livonia. And by his step-nephews Andrew (Deb), Robert (Mary Pat) and Glen (Roxanne) Kennedy. He was preceded in death by his parents, Kenneth and Bertha McAulay.

Biography

John D. “Jack” McAulay, 76, of Pigeon, passed away Friday, December 18, 2020 at McLaren Bay Region from complications due to pneumonia. John was born April 11, 1944 in Pigeon to Bertha and Kenneth McAulay. He graduated from Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port High School in 1962. He attended Michigan State University after graduation and then transferred to Ferris State University. He graduated from Ferris with a Bachelor in Business degree. The following year, he returned to Ferris where he earned an Associate Degree in accounting. After earning his Associate Degree, Jack accepted a position with the Internal Revenue Service in Detroit. In 1972, he moved to Washington D.C. to work for the Internal Revenue Service in the Office of International Operations as an Internal Revenue Agent. At the time, Jack was one of eight to ten agents the United States government sent to countries all over the world to advise millions of citizens. On one of his auditing trips, John worked in twenty-two countries on three continents. This working trip took him around the world in six months. John spent thirty years in D.C. doing this work for the Internal Revenue Service and ended his years of government service working at the Defense Department as an auditor. As a young boy, Jack had an interest in history. He was especially interested in the War Between the States and the arms used by the soldiers in that war. While in D.C., he got involved with Civil War reenactment groups. This involvement further peaked his thirst for knowledge of Civil War arms. John loved to read about this history but found information in books to be limited. He spent months researching the arms, gathering information and pictures from the National Archives with his findings resulting in his first book, Civil War Breechloading Arms. He was considered an authority in his field having eight books published as well as numerous magazine articles. John returned to the Thumb area in 2002 and continued to write and publish on the topic he was so passionate about right up to his passing. His most recent book was Rifles of the United States Navy and Marine Corps 1866-1917 which was published in 2017. John was a proud life member of Hubbard-Winsor Lodge No. 420 of the Free and Accepted Masons. He was an easy-going man who made friends everywhere he went.

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