Maurice Stanley Jacobsen

He was born on November 17, 1927, in Chehalis, Washington, to Martin and Cecil Jacobsen of Onalaska, Washington.

Growing up, he enjoyed playing with his wagon, riding a bicycle, seeing and playing with baby chickens, baby kittens, and newborn calves. He even raised a pet chicken when a cow laid on the mother and just the one chick survived. He also liked milking cows, haying, and other farming activities.

His chores consisted of feeding the chickens, cows, and calves, milking the cows, carrying wood into the house for the wood stoves, and finding and bringing in the cows to the barn from the pasture. He first rode a horse by himself and milked a cow at age 6 and at one point milked 22 cows morning and evening. He reports that he was not paid an allowance.

He had Whooping Cough and several other childhood diseases, but he reported that his greatest fear from childhood was being kidnapped, because of all the talk and news about the Lindbergh baby. He took comfort in the fact that his family was not rich or famous.

He had two nicknames: Maury in grade school and Jake as a bridge engineer.

He started school (in a one room schoolhouse) in November, because that’s when he turned six. His favorite teacher was his cousin Chrissie, who taught him in the first grade.

At age 9, his family got a telephone party line with 26 others.

He had wood stoves for cooking and heating the house, and kerosene lamps for lighting until he was eleven years old and his family got electricity.

Growing up, he was impacted by several tragedies. His little 2 year old cousin Bobby Jones was accidently shot and killed, his 35 year old uncle Oscar died in a logging accident, and a classmate of 8 years was struck and killed by a truck. He started thinking about heaven at an early age.

At age 13, his family replaced their team of horses with a Farmall A tractor and he became the most frequent driver.

On his way to the end-of-the year picnic in 7th grade, he went too fast coming down Summerset Hill on his bicycle and crashed. He broke his collarbone and had several stiches in his elbow. His parents took him to the Centralia Hospital ER and he missed the picnic, which seemed to matter more to him than the collarbone.

His first full-time job was driving a school bus at age 18 for $85 per month.

He began reading the Bible “faithfully and completely” after his dad had a heart attack. He had just started college, but was not doing well studying and keeping the dairy farm going while his Dad was ill. He quit college to run the farm.

At age 22, he bought his first 60 acres, with the intention of being a dairy farmer.

He was drafted and went into the Army on March 4, 1953. He spent 6 months at San Luis Obispo, CA, one year at Ft. Hood, Texas, and the final six months at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. His final job was as the Battalion jeep driver.

After being discharged from the Army, he came home, bought a bulldozer, farmed and cleared land with his father.

Exactly ten years after leaving college, he went back to Centralia College and eventually finished at the University of Washington, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and subsequently became a Licensed Professional Civil and Structural Engineer. He started his career as an engineer in the Bridge Division of the State of Washington in December 1960.

1961 was a significant year for Maurice; he married Helen Patricia (Mallonee) (Badger), a young widow, in February, starting a life together that only ended with his passing. Maurice adopted Helen's three small children, Linda, Margaret, and Bill and gave them his name. The fourth child, Joe, was born to Helen and Maurice in December, completing a very full year. At age 55, he retired from the State Bridge Division and held various consulting jobs over the next 10 years. He officially retired from engineering at age 65 and spent his remaining time with a job description of husband, father, grandfather, farmer, and animal feeder.

He was actively involved in the church and was an Elder in Onalaska Presbyterian Church, United Churches of Olympia, and Friendship Church in Palm Desert, CA. He was a charter member, Deacon, and Elder in Lacey Presbyterian Church.

June 28, 2021, his last full day on earth, was the hottest day on record in Olympia. We’re guessing that was a shout-out to Maurice, who always complained about being too cold.