Jack Dwan; O.C. Literacy Tutor

Jack Dwan, a decorated World War II Army colonel who spent his civilian life teaching people how to read, died Friday after a long battle with cancer. He was 81.

Dwan, who lived in Corona del Mar with his wife, Jerri, spent several decades volunteering at the Newport Beach Public Library, teaching custodians, men in fancy suits, firemen and others who barely read well enough to function in daily life.

He was perfect for the task, friends said. The discipline he learned during a military career that spanned 28 years complemented his soft-spoken ways, making him a sought-after tutor.

Lucille Kuehn, a library board member, recalled how Dwan allowed people to maintain their dignity while going through the humbling experience of learning what they should have learned in grade school. “He was soft and gentle, the perfect person to tutor . . . people who are often embarrassed to admit they need help,” she said.

Friends compared Dwan to a southern gentleman, without the South. He was known for his sophistication and scholarly ideas, his compulsive study of world history and genteel manners.

Relatives said that his passion--and compassion--may have come from the fact that Dwan forsook a college education at Harvard Law School to fight in World War II but never forgot his lost opportunity to learn. He later earned an undergraduate degree at Pomona College and received a doctorate in international relations from Yale University, said his wife.

During the war, Dwan served five years in the heralded 3rd Infantry Division, including almost a dozen campaigns in Africa and Europe. Later, he served in Vietnam, advising ambassadors in Saigon, and as a White House aide, Jerri Dwan said.

But somehow, she said, none of it ever went to his head. He didn’t talk about the medals he kept in a dusty trunk. The medals, Dwan’s wife said, were beside the point.

“Serving was what was important to him,” she said, adding that she knew this from the first time they met: “Oh, you should have seen him. . . . He was 6 foot 3. He had the most beautiful eyes. And I could see in the soldier [that] he was the gentlest man. I could see he didn’t care about anything but integrity.”

And remembering with words. He wrote a 300-page memoir for relatives. In his dying days, he also wrote the following as a guide to living well: “Truth and reason pursue with pride. Deal with others in a caring way. Let the Golden Rule be your trusted guide. Guard with care your integrity. From none but self expect applause.”

Dwan is survived by his wife, son Brad, daughter Kimberly and three grandchildren, Connor, Tori and Tanner. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Corona del Mar.