Thomas Josephus Jacobs

Thomas J. Jacobs, 88, of Apple Valley, California, died November 4, 2016. He was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Johanna B. Jacobs and Josephus M. Jacobs, and grew up in neighboring Hilversum. As a teen during World War II, he worked at a radio station in Hilversum. Following the war, Mr. Jacobs served in the Dutch military from 1947 to 1949, stationed in Indonesia on the island of Sumatra, and briefly on the island of Java. After returning home, he immigrated to Quebec, Canada in 1951 aboard the SS Volendam, settling in Ontario. While in Canada, he worked in farming, and also in construction together with his brother Rob, including helping build new hydroelectric power plants at Niagara Falls. He then immigrated to the United States in 1954 by way of Buffalo NY. In Buffalo, he briefly worked for General Motors in powertrain manufacturing, and next drove west in a Volkswagen to Anaheim, California in 1955 to be reunited with his mother and siblings Bob, Paul, Pete, “Mollie”, Rob, Marianne, and Nick, while Lou and Josette remained in Holland. He found work in telecommunications at GTE (now Verizon), where he was employed for 34 years as a Central Office installer. When Mr. Jacobs first came to California in 1955, he resided in Santa Monica where he met Johanna Macaré in 1958. The two wed in 1960 and lived in Oxnard, Ventura, and finally settled in Santa Paula in 1962. In 1969 they moved to Santa Barbara with their two young children, Eric and Renée, and remained there until 2006. Mr. Jacobs was both deeply religious and cared about helping those in need. He volunteered at the Santa Barbara Mission, doing set-up, cleanup and breakdown for major events and fund-raisers including the annual July 4th Arts and Crafts Show and the regular spaghetti dinners for the Franciscans. He donated blood like clockwork for decades, as his blood type was both rare and often needed for premature babies. In fact, over his lifetime, he donated an exceptional 116 pints of blood. On Fridays, he often could be found working at the local soup kitchen serving the poor and homeless. Always industrious and hard working, he and his wife invested in income property in Santa Barbara in the late-1970s, which they both proudly maintained themselves. He took early retirement from GTE in 1991. In his spare time, he enjoyed reading about history and the World War, listening to classical music and polkas, and traveling when he could. He had a special knack for organizing and labeling, and was always in search of projects around the home and yard. He is survived by his beloved wife, Johanna, his son Eric and his wife Beth, and his daughter Renée and her spouse Caroline. He leaves six grandchildren: Caroline Scanlan, Mackenzie Scanlan, David Scanlan, Neil Thomas Jacobs, Cole Thomas Jacobs, and Kate Scanlan-Jacobs. He also leaves his siblings Paul Jacobs, Josette Berg, Marianne Blincoe, Peter Jacobs, and Nick Jacobs. He is preceded in death by his siblings Jacobus “Bob” Jacobs, Lodewijk “Lou” Jacobs, Eugenia “Molly” Winter, and Robertus “Rob” Jacobs. He is now at peace with those he loved and who went before him.