Lasting Memories

Jessie D. Longacre
April 20, 1923-March 7, 2014
Menlo Park, California

Jessie D. Longacre passed away on March 7, 2014 of complications of a chronic neurodegenerative disease. She was 90 years old.

The daughter of Chester Rollin Damon and Laura Jones, Jessie was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in 1923. She grew up in Oklahoma during the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression.

After graduating from Guthrie High School, Jessie attended Oklahoma State University, where she majored in music and played in the marching band. During these formative years Jessie developed a lifelong love for music (particularly jazz), dogs, and women's sports. Shortly after the war, Jessie met her husband, Walter (Walt) Jr. Longacre, in Los Angeles, where they started their family. The couple had three children, Casey, Teri, and Maureen. After the birth of their third child, the family moved to Colorado, where Jessie and Walt lived most of their married life, eventually moving to Seattle after their second child had entered college. When her husband retired, she and Walt lived in Oklahoma for a brief period. Shortly after his death, Jessie moved to Menlo Park to be near her older daughter. Jessie, always a women?s sports enthusiast, quickly became an avid fan of the Stanford Women's Basketball and could quote statistics for each of the players, each of whom she referred to on a first name basis -? including Tara - as if they were her personal friends.

She is lovingly remembered by all her children and grandchildren, but perhaps especially so by her granddaughter, Danielle, who had the great fortune to be still young enough to need Jessie to chaperone her to and from school and to her various after-school activities. One of Danielle?s most cherished memories is that of her grandmother turning on the heat in the car "full blast" as they drove the short block to school in the California winter. She also fondly remembers the Snickers bars grandmother Jessie would buy her every afternoon after swim practice.

Jessie is survived by her three children and numerous grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband Walt and their beloved dog, Babe. Her daughter and son-in-law were with her during her last days.