Naomi R Jacobs

Naomi Rae Jacobs, age 78, of Columbus, Ohio passed away, March 28, 2023. She was born March 6, 1945, in Minnesota, Minneapolis, to the late Maurice and Bessie Jacobs. As her father was an officer in the United States Air Force and Stationed at wright Patterson AFB, Naomi was raised n Dayton, Ohio. Her family spent one year in San Diego, California, when Naomi was ten years old, and one year in Framingham, Massachusetts, when Naomi was sixteen years old. Naomi graduated from Colonel White High School in Dayton, Ohio in 1963, and was in top twenty academically in her class. She received her Bachelor’s degree cum laude in Social Work from Michigan State University in 1967, and her Master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Michigan in 1969.

Naomi began her career in libraries as an assistant in the Chemistry Library at the Ohio State University in 1968. After receiving her Master’s Degree, she was employed at the Hackley Public Library in Muskegon, Michigan, Michigan State University Library in E. Lansing, Michigan, Wright State University Library in Dayton, Ohio, Jackson County Public Library in Jackson, Michigan and held several positions at the Ohio state university in Columbus, in the Admissions Office and in the Chemistry Depratment. She then became librarian at the national center for research in Vocational Education, also at the Ohio State University and was later a librarian at the Palm Beach county library in Delray Beach, Florida, Squire, Sanders and Dempsey law firm in Columbus, Ohio and the Westerville Public Library in Westerville, Ohio. Because Naomi spent the majority of her life in Columbus, Ohio, although she lived in several other locations, she considered Columbus to be her home.

Naomi was involved in many volunteer activities throughout her lifetime, most of which were related to the Arts. She also considered herself to be a lifelong learner. She spent many years as a volunteer usher in several local theaters, working on a continuous basis since 1980. These theatres included that palace, the Ohio, the Southern, the capitol, the Wexner center, Six-String Concerts, Little Theatre off Broadway. And the Actors Theatre. In 2007 Naomi was selected Usher of the year at the Wexner center at OSU. She was also a volunteer at the WOSU Stations since 1980, and was a Volunteer at the McConnell Arts Center in Worthington since 2009.

Over the years, Naomi belonged to several organizations, including: Lifelong Learning Institute at Columbus State Community College, where she served on the steering committee for two years, the Central Ohio Bluegrass Association, the Griswold center, the program 60 Association, OSU Retirees Association, OSU Rebounders Club, and the University pf Michigan Alumni Association. She also served briefly as a member of the following: Honor Flight Volunteers, Pro Musica Sustaining Board, and Beaux Arts at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Naomis lifelong learning activities included attending classes at The Ohio State University through Program 60, at the Columbus State Community College Lifelong Learning Institute, at the Westminster- Thurber OWLS Program, and at the upper Arlington Life Long Learning Program. She also enjoyed taking short bus trips and traveling to the blue grass festivals. She especially enjoyed her trips to Niagara Falls, Stratford, Ontario and the Biltmore in Ashville, North Carolina. Naomi enjoyed all music, but had special fondness for bluegrass, classic country, opera, and Broadway musicals. Late in life, she also acquired great interests in art history, cinema, and astronomy, especially space travel. She also spent a great deal of time reading and enjoyed walking in local parks. Her greatest disappointment was that she could not live long enough to witness advances in space exploration and possibly the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Another great disappointment was the inability to fulfill a lifelong dream to travel the world, due to the lack of resources to do so.

Naomi considered her greatest achievements to be staying sane in an increasingly insane environment, and helping a friend in significant ways during the friends nine year struggle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Naomi leaves no survivors. She was preceded in death by her brother Jay, who died at the age of four in the late 1940s, by her father, Maurice, who died in an automobile accident in 1971 at the age of 65, and by her mother Bess, who died in 2001at the age of 94, and by several cats who were very important to Naomi, Lucy, Sumi, Toonces, Keely, and Tai.

There will be no services for Naomi. She will be interred at Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus, Ohio. Donation may be made in Naomi’s name to the Charity of your choice, tor to the Ohio State University Veterinary hospital or American Red Cross.

TO Paraphrase Martin Luther King, Jr.: “In the end, it’s not the words of our enemies that we remember, but the silence of our friends.”