March 4, 1948 – April 10, 2023
Jake died on April 10, 2023 surrounded by his family. He was preceded in death by parents John M. Jacobsen and Opal M (Poleinoski) Jacobsen. Jake is survived by his loving wife of 52 years, Diane (Dodie); sisters Judi Jacobsen and Ron Thompson (special friend) and Jeri (Mark) Harrison; son James; daughter Jackie and grandchildren Hannah Jacobsen, Joe Jacobsen and Coryn Jacobsen; sister-in-law Sue (Jim) Lottman; and brother-in-law Jerry (Dee) Ebbeka.
Jake received his BS degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln in 1972. For his entire professional career, he was employed by the Nebraska Dept. of Transportation. With the NDOT he served in many roles including:
Bridge Design Engineer in Lincoln from 1971 to 1978;
District Construction Engineer for District 6 in North Platte from 1978 to 1986;
District Engineer for District 7 in McCook from 1986 to 1992;
District Engineer in Omaha from 1992 to 2003; and
State Deputy Director of Operations in Lincoln from 2003 To 2011.
Jake retired in 2011. He made many lifelong friends at NDOR and in the industry. For several years, neighbors and friends loved coming to Jake’s annual wild game feed at his house. All worked together to fix the wild game and even fixing turkey in a deep fat fryer. During this annual event Jake’s garage, driveway and front lawn was filled with tables, hot fryers, margarita machine, beer coolers, tents and lawn chairs. It was a lot of work but was an event that was enjoyed by all. Jake also loved to buy the groceries and then cook dinner for his family.
Jake and Dodie loved to travel including to conferences for work to numerous states, and taking trips to Hawaii and cruises with friends to the Caribbean. Jake also loved his golf trips with the boys to Oklahoma, fishing trips to Canada, Alaska and Minnesota and the annual trip to Scotia, NE to try and scare the pheasants. Jake enjoyed golfing in scrambles, watching Husker football and having dinner and a drink or two with family and friends.
Celebration of Life Service will be held 11am, Friday, April 21, 2023 with visitation starting starting at 10am. All at Braman Mortuary Southwest Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, memorials will be directed by the family.
To send flowers to the family in memory of John R. Jacobsen, please visit our flower store.