John "Jack" Arnold was a main character from the original show The Wonder Years, being the father of Karen, Wayne, and Kevin, the husband of Norma Arnold (neé Gustafson), and son of Albert Arnold. He initially worked as a product distribution manager at NORCOM, a large military defense company. Later, at the end of the series he begins his own business, building and selling handcrafted furniture.
Jack is shown throughout the series as a gruff and laconic man, who grew up during the Great Depression, and served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War right after graduating from college.
He was portrayed in the show by Dan Lauria, who actually served during the Vietnam War as an officer for the United States Marine Corps.
Biography []
Childhood[]
Jack Arnold was born November 5, 1927 to his father Albert Arnold and an unnamed mother.
As a child, he always dreamed of being the captain of a boat. During the great depression, Jack had to walk himself thirty miles while there were blizzards.
During his teenage years, he had a difficult relationship with his father, Albert Arnold, and they always used to argue a lot. During his high school years, he had an interest in state basketball playoffs until his favorite player lost when his opponents double-teamed him.
College Years[]
In Summer of 1948, he met his future wife, Norma Arnold when he was getting a tie in a Macy's when he was 20 years old. He would later call back because he got the wrong tie, and they fell in love. During that time, she told Jack about hating living in her house and wanting more than the small town she grew up in had to offer. Jane and Karl Gustavson, who were her parents, disapproved of Jack, and didn't want her to marry him, even though Norma and Jack attended the same college.
In college, she was boyfriends with Vic Claybourne, who was also the best friend of Jack Arnold at the time, and during a school dance, they had a fight over who should dance with Norma, but Jack eventually won her over, and Vic, who was heartbroken, has never talked to him since, but Jack later mentioned that "it was worth it."
Military Service[]
He later married, Norma Arnold in August 1949, to the dismay of her parents, and he went to Ocean City with her In their honeymoon,
Jack Arnold was drafted or joined the Marines in the Korean War in 1950, right after he graduated from college, and he passed his physicals but mentioned "it was a real pain in the rear." During a battle, he caught some shrapnel in his leg, but he didn't think the limp. He still considered himself lucky, because a lot of the other soldiers, never made it out alive. The experience was haunting to him, and he thought about it from time to time. Though nothing was the same for him after going through that, he did manage to save the life of his Marine Corps buddy Ted Baker who promised he would do anything for him.
Adult Years[]
In 1952, he came back home after the war and took a summer job at NORCOM on the loading docks. After that, they had a daughter named Karen Arnold. He and his wife would later have two kids, Wayne and Kevin Arnold.
By 1968, Jack held a middle management position at NORCOM, where his main job seemed to be to take heat from his superiors, when any employee under his management fell short of expectations, and then to pick up their slack. Jack detested this position, but he stuck with it, for the sake of providing for his family. Most nights, he would come home from work in a dour, and edgy mood, ready to snap at the slightest provocation. On some nights, Jack would find solace, in looking through his telescope at the stars, reminiscing about his dreams of being the captain of a ship.
Work wasn't the only source of frustration for Jack. As his oldest daughter, Karen, matured, she became increasingly involved with the counterculture movement of the time, causing the two to have an increasingly strained relationship. Things came to a head between them, when Jack learned that Karen was living with her boyfriend, Michael. Eventually the two came to a full reconciliation, when Karen and Michael proved to be a responsible and loving couple, as Michael secured a decent job. When Karen married, Jack gave her and Michael a sizeable check as a wedding present, which he said could be used to help them find their first house. Kevin was concerned about Jack's anger when Michael revealed to Kevin that the job he found was working on the Alaskan Pipeline. When this is revealed, Jack is dismayed at first, until Norma reminds him that in the early struggling days of their own marriage, he took her one thousand miles away from her childhood home.
Around Christmas of 1972, Jack finally resigned from his unsatisfying position at NORCOM. With Norma's help, he started his own business, selling hand-crafted furniture, which became a success.
In 1973, Karen is pregnant with her first baby. The final scene of Jack is him celebrating the news by having a beer with Kevin. Kevin remarks his father is now a grandfather, to which Jack remarks that Kevin is now an uncle.
Death[]
Kevin reveals that Karen's baby was born in 1974. In 1975, Jack died of an unspecified cause. His furniture business was inherited by Norma and Wayne. Some time between 1975 and 1982, Kevin married himself. Jack becomes the posthumous grandfather to Kevin's son.