A wonderul man left his life on earth suddenly today. After 80 years of a full life, James Milton Jacobsen died early this morning. After fighting a brave battle with cancer, and "winning the battle", as much as possible, his body gave up on him.
Jim was a bigger-than-life kind of man. He was raised a farm boy in northern Iowa, a basketball star for Rock Valley High School, a graduate of South Dakota State college, he went on to work for South Dakota DoT as an engineer. Later, when I knew him, he worked in sales for 3M. He loved, I mean really loved, golf. Jim was very excited about the four, possibly five, hole-in-ones he achieved. His wife, Bev, and all of his children, as well as numerous grandchildren, shared his love of the sport. He was quite proud of the fact that he had played a round of golf BEFORE driving himself to the hospital with shortness of breath--the beginning of the battle with cancer, in June.
My father-in-law and his wife Bev raised four awesome kids: Joel, Brenda, Kay, and Keith. All four grown children have very different careers and life plans, but get along famously, which is a tribute to how they were raised. Family was extremely important to Jim. He was at the hospital moments after our first child, Jacoba was born, pacing the halls until he could see his first grandchild. He was one of the first to visit each grandchild upon arrival into this world.
Nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren will miss Jim's laughter and interest in what they are doing as they grow and change. Recently, my son Mark was visiting Arkansas for work, and he and Jim had the opportunity to really talk about Mark's carrer as an exhibit technician for a children's museum. Jim and Bev actually visited the local children's museum Mark was working with that week, and Jim was so excited to "see what Mark does! Impressive." He took great joy in visiting with his grandchildren.
At big family events, when everyone else pulled out expensive cameras or cell phones to capture a moment, Jim had his disposable Kodack camera! He kept a photo album of pictures he carfully selected, some even printed from emails. If he felt a picture was "book worthy", it was placed with honor in his picture book. I was flattered to find that he had included a picture of my daughter, my mom, and me on our recent trip to San Antonio!
Keith and I were so blessed to have just seen Jim two days ago, and we enjoyed a nice visit. I ran down and got the mail, just junk mail, and we joked about the possibility of him wanting a free burrito at a local eatery. I will miss the poilitical discussions we used to have, the arguments, friendly-ish, about religion and my strict discipline of his grandchildren. He was an honest man who wanted what was best for his family. He could be stubborn and a little abrupt, but I never saw him deliberately hurt anyone. When I suffered loss in my life, he was always a claming influence who would really listen.
The dedication he had for his wife will be one of Jim's strongest legacies for me and my children. He never claimed to be perfect, but he did strive to do his best when it came to Bev's care. Recently, Jim and Bev relocated to Jefferson City as he continued to fight his cancer, and it was wonderful to have the last month of visits with him. Shortly, we will celebrate his life with a Mass in Bella Vista, Arkansas, where he and Bev lived for 20 plus years of their retirement. He will be missed by his family, and his golfing buddies. His grandsons will miss days on the greens, as will all of his children.
Today a journey in life came to a close, but I firmly believe Jim started a much more glorious journey, and I wish him safe travels.
* Photo by Allie Jacobsen, August, 2019
