Jeffery Earle Gifford

Jeffery Earle Gifford, born in Detroit, Michigan to Kenneth and Helen Gifford on February 25, 1948, passed away peacefully on the evening of February 17, 2023, after a four-year battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his three children, Jeffery II, Jonathan and Jennifer.

Jeffery graduated from Hazel Park High School in 1966, where he was a star athlete and also met his high school sweetheart and wife of 53 years, Margaret Jane Phillips Gifford. He went on to graduate from Western Michigan University in 1970 with a major in Biology. After graduating he served our country in Vietnam, returning home in early 1972 and moving to San Antonio with the military.

Shortly after moving to San Antonio and completing his military service, Jeffery began a 50-year career in the insurance and financial services industry starting with Prudential and later MetLife and Mass Mutual. He really never retired; working up until the week of his passing. He was very proud of the accomplishments and impact he had on other people’s lives through his fifty-year career.

As a father, he was very supportive and encouraged each of us to go for our dreams, no matter what they were or how lofty they may have been. Along with our Mom, he would lend himself to help paint our houses, build us BBQ pits and buy our kids computers so he could help with their math homework. He was a friend to our friends and was often the life of our parties, cooking his world famous homemade pizza’s for everyone and staying until the bitter end…it didn’t hurt that our Mom loved a great party too.

Outside of work, Jeffery was a life-long lover of the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions. After moving to Texas, he took every opportunity to see the Tigers play when they came to the Texas. He was also a staunch Democrat and took particular interest in speaking with likeminded friends (and otherwise – he loved a good political fight!) on his Facebook account, which he dubbed “The Jungle” and where he had well over a thousand followers. Jeffery was also an avid lover of music and even wrote and recorded a song, which was an homage to his all-time favorite band, The Band. The song was titled Goin’ Home to See Diamond. The night he passed we played his song for him over and over for hours.

Jeffery is survived by his wife, Jane, his children, Jeffery II (Dena), Jonathan (John) and Jennifer (Alfredo) along with his 5 granddaughters, Olivia, Savannah, Jojo, Juniper and Helen. As well as his sisters, Kay Williams, Janice Broick, Joan Macinski and endless nieces and nephews who he adored.