Jacob Paul Dvorak (1992-2021)

DVORAK, WELTER

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 2/5/2021 at 07:59:24

Memorial
Jacob Paul Dvorak, 28, of Cedar Rapids, passed away on January 30, 2021 at his home. A private family funeral service and burial will take place at the Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery. A livestream of the funeral service may be accessed on the funeral home website under the obituary for Jacob, under the video tab, starting at 11:00am on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.

Jacob was born on June 20, 1992 to Diane Welter and Allen Dvorak in Des Moines. Jacob was always a fighter – even from his first few months of life. Jacob was born with many health issues and spent his first few months in the NICU at Iowa City. Jacob was able to recover and grew up to be a very active and compassionate man. He loved being a part of any team – sports or military. In high school he had the heart of a champion and was named captain of sports teams (affectionally known as JD by his teammates). Jacob also loved to be outdoors whether it was hunting or fishing. When Jacob graduated Nevada High School he immediately pursued his passion and enlisted in the Army.

Jacob enlisted in the Army Reserves on Jan 7, 2011. He was a soldier with the 402nd Engineering Company (Sapper) where he served one tour of duty (Dec 2012 – Sept 2013) in Afghanistan with a mission of route clearance. When he returned, he joined the USAR Sustainment Command (ASC) – Detachment 12. He then transferred to the 383rd regiment, 1st Battalion Training Support. While serving, Jacob earned many awards including the Army Commendation Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal and National Defense Service Medal, NATO Medal, and Oversees Training Medal.

From his unit: SGT Dvorak was Devoted. SGT Dvorak was devoted to the Army and his units, he was devoted to his friends, and devoted to his family. SGT Dvorak would often talk about his high school friends and reminisce about playing football and wrestling and the friends he made playing sports. He would be so proud to bring up his family in conversation, his mom Miss Diane and now Darrell, we would talk about him being a “mommas boy” (his words) and Father Allen and uncles, hunting stories along with his stepmom Sarah and he would beam when he talked about his little brothers and teaching them to wrestle and football and, eventually, hunting. He talked about his sister with such pride, Sarah, the family sister who kept them together and he was so excited to be an uncle he would smile from ear to ear. If you knew him he would try and talk but his smile was so big it wouldn’t come out right. The same smile was there when he would talk about Kat and how smart she was. He would say with that same smile “she was going to be a doctor and she owes me because she took my portion of the brains at birth!”. He was so proud and happy to talk about his family. He was proud of his Fiancé who he would talk about helping her go back to school and he took immense pleasure and pride when he would tell me “I need to pick up my kids” or I am taking “Latasha out for date night”! He was so proud in all of these conversations but what I noticed that his pride was always in the people of his life, not in what he did. He may have boasted about being the small guy in football or wrestling but nothing made him smile more than when he talked about family, friends or the military.

Left to cherish Jacob’s memories are his fiancé, Latasha, and her children, Jaxson, Jermarrion, Jermane and Lillian; parents, Diane & Darrell and Allen & Sarah; sisters, Sarah and Katherine; brothers, Caleb and Josef; niece and nephew, Mary Ellen and Henry; grandparents, Alice and Lee & Cindy; aunts and uncles, Terry & Dawn, Randy & Sheri, and Jennifer & Paul; and cousins, Megan, Amiee, Erika and Kaitlyn.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Mary & Dean, Henry, and Leo; uncle, Dee; sister, Rebekah; and many of his brothers in arms from the military.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established for Latasha and her children.