A 52-year-old Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center employee critically injured when hit by a truck while walking to his car June 1 after a car race in Kansas died Saturday.

James C. “J.J.” Jenkins suffered a major brain stem stroke Saturday, said his wife, Joy McGrew Jenkins. She is a registered nurse case manager at Muskogee Regional Medical Center.

She said she knew an hour before the stroke that he was brain dead and nothing more could be done.

The Engineering Department at the VA Medical Center was a very “gloomy” place Monday, said Jenkins’ friend and supervisor of 10 years, Phil Branan.

Jenkins was a boiler operator at the center for more than 17 years, Branan said.

“He was a very unique individual — I never saw him unhappy. He always had a smile on his face,” Branan said.

“He was a good man. I never heard him say a bad word about anyone. He had many, many friends at the VA.”

Jenkins loved being outside and doing things with his wife and grown sons, Branan said. He loved stock car racing and drag racing, Branan said.

If Jenkins wasn’t on duty in the boiler room, Branan said he could look over his shoulder at Outlaw Motor Speedway and see Jenkins.

“He was sitting in the grandstands — he loved it.”

The same truck-pedestrian accident earlier claimed the life of Judy K. Brewster, 55, wife of Muskogee businessman Mike Brewster. The Brewsters and Jenkins had attended the National Hot Rod Association’s O’Reilly Summer Nationals in Topeka. Joy Jenkins walked ahead to get their car and was not hit.

Judy Brewster died at a Kansas hospital shortly after the accident.

James Jenkins was taken to the intensive care unit of the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., where he was when he died.

He had received a lot of blood since the accident and was on a ventilator until just before his death, his wife said.

He suffered multiple fractures, underwent surgery and faced many more surgeries had he lived.

Joy Jenkins, who had stayed at her husband’s side since the wreck, said Monday she was “overwhelmed” by grief. She was making funeral arrangements Monday and said she also was “picking out his last new outfit.”

James Jenkins served 17 years in the U.S. Navy.

Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Keefeton Freewill Baptist Church under the direction of Foster-Petering Funeral Home.

Reach Donna Hales at 684-2923 or dhales@ muskogeephoenix.com.