DALE CITY — A larger than life presence was laid to rest.
A funeral for John Douglas Jenkins, 79, was held at the Hytlon Memorial Chapel. More than 500 people gathered Wednesday, Feb. 13 to say farewell to the longest-serving Prince William County Supervisor in history.
The retired Army Colonel was eulogized as a family man, as someone who cared deeply for his community, and as a man of action.
“You, the people of Prince William County all were the object of his love for 40 years,” said Gordon Jenkins, the eldest son who led the funeral service inside the chapel in in Dale City. “If he was a big part of the picture in Prince William County, he was picture and frame to the Jenkins family.”
Members of the family, all mourning the loss of the patriarch, gathered on stage to sing a favorite song of the late supervisor’s, 1939’s “You Are My Sunshine.”
Jenkins was the Neabsco District Supervisor in Dale City and had a hand in nearly everything that happened there. He loved organizing and riding in the annual Dale City 4th of July Parade — the largest in Virginia, and he supported the Boys and Girls Clubs, VFW Post 1503, and helped create the Virginia Railway Express.
But he didn’t do it alone. His wife, Earnestine, was always by his side.
“If John was the Colonel, Earnestine was the General,” said Senator Mark Warner (D-Va).
Jenkin’s youngest grandson, Jeremy, praised his ‘Nan” and ‘grandpap.’ “He taught us how to live with your wife, in love, for 60 years,” he said.
Like many of the politicians who spoke at the funeral, Jenkins helped Warner in his early days when he ran for Virginia Governor in 2001.
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th, Fairfax, Prince William) called Jenkins a “retail” politician with a love for local government. “In local government, you have to do something. You have to deliver,” said Connolly.
He also recalled a time when Jenkins explained to the one-time Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the political divide in Prince William while sitting at a diner.
“He a drew a line of a piece of paper. ‘That’s Hoadly [Road]’ he said. ‘On that side [referring to the more Democratic-leaning eastern Prince William] there are opportunities,” said Connolly. “On that side, there will be challenges,” he said, referring to the Republican-leaning western Prince William.
It never seemed like a challenge for Jenkins to keep his seat on the Board of Supervisors. The longest-serving incumbent on the Board was appointed in 1982 when then Neabsco District Supervisor James McCoart (for whom the James McCoart Building at the Prince William County Government Center in Woodbridge is named) stepped down.
Potomac District Supervisor Maureen Caddigan recalled helping to rally support for Jenkins to serve on the Board. She went to the then Dumfries District Supervisor and urged her to support Jenkins.
“When I ran for Dumfries Supervisor, it was John who was there for me,” she said.
Gordon Jenkins called local politics a blood sport but thanked his father’s fellow Supervisors for the support they had given the family over the years.
Jenkins was also praised for being loyal and for rewarding those who were loyal to him. He harbored an attitude of “you’re either with me or you’re against me,” his son said.
He was also loyal to Prince William County’s traditions when, in 2013, he railed against a new logo change — one that the Board of Supervisors didn’t approve. Instead of the traditional county seal, Jenkins was upset to see a newly adopted logo in its place, consisting of blue boxes.
“This is an effort by staff members, under the direction of the County Executive, to try to establish a new identity, perhaps for the economic development activities. I certainly believe that if something is not broke, you don’t fix it,” Jenkins told Potomac Local.
Jenkins and his wife, Ernestine, settled in Dale City in 1973 and raised a family of three sons, Warren, Mark and Gordon, fourteen grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.
He passed away on the evening of February 6, 2019, and will be buried Monday, February 18 in his hometown of Geneva, Ala.
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors called for a time of mourning for the late Supervisor form Feb. 6 to Feb. 18, “for the greatest supervisor this county will ever know,” said Board Chairman At-large Corey Stewart, as he read aloud a resolution honoring Jenkins.
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