July 24, 1995

Jon Pancake of Eddyville, vice chairman of the state Republican Party, died Saturday evening at Lourdes Hospital in Paducah of an apparent heart attack. He was 43. Pancake had been Republican chairman of the 1st Congressional District for three years before being elevated to state vice chairman early last month by Larry Forgy, the party's nominee for governor.

"Jon Pancake represented politics at its best -- an exercise in civic responsibility," Forgy said yesterday. "He moved people not out of personal ambition, but out of dedication to causes and beliefs he held dear. He was truly one of the most fair-minded men I have ever known." The state party's senior elected official, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, said Pancake was an effective leader who will be greatly missed. Pancake recently started his own law practice in Eddyville after working for 14 years in the Paducah firm of Hardy, Terrell, Boswell & Sims. He is survived by his wife, Becky, and an 8-year-old daughter, Courtney.

The funeral will be at 3 p.m. tomorrow at Grand Rivers United Methodist Church in Grand Rivers, with burial in Rolling Hills Cemetery in Eddyville. Visitation will be at Lakeland Funeral Home in Eddyville from 4 to 9 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. tomorrow.