John Edward 'Jack' Belgard
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2008
John Edward 'Jack' Belgard, 81, owner and operator of Belgard Engineering Inc., an auto repair shop in the Silver Spring area,
died Nov. 3 of complications from esophageal cancer at Howard County General Hospital. He was a Highland, Md., resident.
Mr. Belgard was born in Seattle and graduated from Calvin Coolidge High School in the District in 1944. After serving in the Army
as an airplane mechanic in Hanau, Germany, he returned to the Washington area and worked at several car dealerships before
opening Belgard Engineering in 1958. He retired in 2003.
An enthusiast of planes, trains and automobiles, he built and raced stock cars from the 1940s through the 1960s. As recently as
2006, he and his sons and friends built and raced a 1938 Chevrolet that was a replica of a car he owned and raced in the late
1940s. The car was equipped with a special Wayne Chevrolet cylinder head.
His other passions included boogie-woogie piano playing, amateur piloting, model building and woodworking.
Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Mary Belgard of Silver Spring; his mother, Gladys Reynolds of Seattle; four children, John
'Jack' Belgard of Highland, Gregory Belgard of Bowie, Jennifer Beard of Fulton, Md., and Donna Wade of Bonita Springs, Fl.; a
sister, Peggy Jean Mooney of Winchester; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
-- Joe Holley