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Obituaries

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Kenneth Jacobsen ’51

Born in 1922, Ken was one of seven children of Norwegian immigrants, Karen and Christian Jacobson.

Ken attended Reed on the GI Bill, after serving as a reconnaissance staff sergeant for the 23rd Armored Division in Europe during WWII. He wrote his thesis, Post office department policies and employee unions, with Prof. Charles McKinley [political science 1918-60].

He worked as a management analyst for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and lived in various towns in Washington, Idaho and California before his retirement in 1981. Ken and his wife, Betty, moved back to Portland in 1982, where he became an enthusiastic walker and volunteer, involved with many local nonprofits, including several which provided services to disadvantaged women and children. He also tutored at Portland Community College and participated in many senior discussion groups.

His children, Alan Jacobsen and Carol Waitte, a granddaughter, and a brother, survive him.

Appeared in Reed magazine: March 2016