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Family and friends are invited to gather in remembrance of Jake VonWeller from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 17, at Fort Borst Park Kitchen 2 in Centralia, Washington.
The celebration will be casual, with music, stories, light refreshments, and an open mic for anyone who wishes to share. No dress code. All who knew or loved him are welcome.
Here is VonWeller's previously published obituary:
Jake VonWeller was never expected. Born 20 minutes after his twin sister, Renee, in Centralia, Washington, he was a surprise from his very first breath — the most unexpected gift of a son, a brother, an uncle and a friend.
He died March 22, 2026, in an automobile accident in Kansas. He was 47.
If you knew Jake, you knew his laugh — loud, real, impossible to resist. You knew that smile, a little sideways, like he was already in on something good. And you knew that when he was in the room, you mattered.
He grew up in the Centralia area with his sisters and brother— a big, blended family he loved without condition. He made his home in Kansas and lived the way he always did: on his own terms.
Jake was a handyman, a DJ, a singer with a voice that stopped people mid-conversation, a songwriter, a pool player and a motorcycle rider — a karaoke host who didn’t just run the machine, he created the night. He’d be the first to tell you he was good at all of it, and he’d be right.
But what mattered most about Jake was this: when your life fell apart, he showed up. He’d sit with you in the worst of it, then look you straight in the eye and say, “Get up. You’re better than this.” And because he’d been knocked down himself and gotten back up more times than most people knew — you believed him. You got up.
That’s how he built his family. Not just the one he was born into, but the one he chose. People became brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews — not by blood, but because Jake earned that title. People didn’t just like Jake. They claimed him.
He adored every child who crossed his path — by blood or by choice. He’d wrestle them, spoil them, look them in the eye and tell them he believed in them — and mean it. Every kid who knew Jake walked away knowing somebody in this world had their back.
And then there was Copper — his dog, his sidekick, his constant. If you understood how Jake loved Copper, you understood how Jake loved everything: all the way, no holding back, no conditions.
He checked in on people weeks after everyone else had stopped asking. He remembered what you told him and brought it back up. Running karaoke at Cookie’s, at the pool table, behind the DJ setup — Jake made people feel like they belonged, because belonging is what he created everywhere he went.
His ripple reached further than any of us will ever fully know. The family he built — by blood, by choice, by showing up when it mattered — is proof that one life, lived wide open, can change more lives than anyone thought possible.
Jake was preceded in death by his father, Buddy VonWeller.
He is survived by his mother, Nina Myhre; his brother, Patrick (Sabrina) Hughes; his older sisters, Gretchen (Jesse) Griffin and Heather (Stacy) VonWeller; his twin sister, Renee (Bow Hall) VonWeller; his younger sister, Krystal Lin (Matthew) Mattison; his nieces, nephews, cousins, great-nieces and great-nephews; his dog, Copper; and a chosen family too wide and too deep to name. You know who you are. He loved you.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to ECKAN — a nonprofit supporting families and children in need across East Central Kansas — because Jake never had to be asked to help someone in need.
Jake was loved. And he will be greatly missed.
