Thursday, September 29, 2011
In the back row is a tall, grey-haired man. He was the son of of a Swedish immigrant who came to the US in the late 1800’s. He was hard-working, proud man, who was unusually tough on his kids. So tough, that when they came of age, they left home and never came back. Yet, isn’t how funny his name lives on and how his wife was seemingly forgotten.
His better half was a young, Christian woman named Mae Rassbach, (the short, grey-haired woman to his left who, sadly, died shortly after this picture was taken in 1961). She was surrounded by the whole Rassbach clan, which was a large one, indeed. Mae was a lovely woman that, against all odds, gave her kids hope when the rest of the world wouldn’t or couldn’t. And all of her kids: Frank (known as “Jake”, Charlie, Don, Velma and Shirley) grew up to be great men and women who did “great things in a great way”.
Sometimes moms are forgotten in family legacies, because as they marry, they abandon their family names for those of their husbands. It’s kind of sad in a way, because mom’s have a profound impact on their offspring. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. But profound to say the least. They should be remembered.
I’m the father of three wonderful girls, Kiera, Elizabeth and Christiana. One day, Lord willing, I’ll grant their hands in marriage, to Christian men I trust will love them as my wife (Ann Marie) and I have loved each of them. They’ll each abandon the “Jacobson” name and take the name of their husband.
Charlie Jacobson had no sons. Don Jacobson’s sons did not live beyond the age of 30. My brother LIef never married. I was blessed with daughters, not sons. And so the Andrew Jacobson side of the family tree that came over from Stockholm, Sweden will have ended. Andrew Jacobson, Rex Jacobson (The tall, grey-haired man and husband of Mae Rassbach), Frank (Jake my dad) Jacobson and finally me, Tryg Jacobson. But it’s not the end of the book. It’s the beginning of three new ones.
Thanks Mae Rassbach, for being great. For inspiring what has become, “Jake’s Way”.
