Allan Lamont Jessop Jr. Obituary
Allan Lamont Jessop, Jr of Benicia, CA died at home on Wednesday afternoon, December 29, 2021, at the age of 83. He was the first son and second of eight children born to Allan Lamont Jessop and Bernice Fish Jessop of Salt Lake City, UT.
Allan had dyslexia and so was forever grateful to two special schoolteachers who, through extra effort and encouragement, opened the door to literacy and his subsequent lifelong love of learning. As a child Allan hitch-hiked and jumped trains, but soon found himself under the support and guidance of his "Aunt Joe" (Josephine Fish Bardwell) in the San Francisco Bay Area, and graduated from Oakland High School.
Allan's love of boats and all things nautical began via the Sea Scouts, first in Utah's Great Salt Lake, and later during his teenage years in Alameda, CA. He achieved Able Seaman before age 18 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1957. Allan's four-year tour of duty was mostly spent aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway, on cruises in the Pacific (during the period between the Korean and Vietnam Wars). On the Midway he served as a machinist's mate in the engine room. On November 9, 1959, during a port visit in the Philippines, a fire broke out in the USS Midway's pump room. As one of the first responders, Allan was lucky to have survived a fire blast that threw him out of his shoes and against a bulkhead, knocking him unconscious. He also had a very close call when ammunition fell off the flight deck and bounced onto a platform only a few feet from him. In the Navy, Allan came to discover that opportunities remained limited by his prior level of education, which deeply disappointed and affected him.
After his Navy tour, Allan returned to the San Francisco Bay Area and worked as a boat builder for Chris-Craft in Alameda, and as an ambulance driver for Mount Eden Mortuary in Hayward. In 1964, Allan met and married his beloved life partner of 57 years, Anita Louise Hastings.
Shortly after marrying, Allan began a career with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) that would span 36 years. He purposefully chose to go to work for a utility company because he reasoned it would provide financial stability for a family. Initially he was interested in PG&E's burgeoning nuclear programs, and so studied at Chabot College to earn his associate degree. However, he ultimately chose to become a corrosion mechanic, specializing in cathodic protection. His work was primarily field based, which suited Allan's predilection for being continuously physically active. Having settled in the East Bay's Castro Valley, Allan first worked out of PG&E's Oakland yard, and later out of the Concord headquarters. For his job, Allan drove and hiked in and around nearly all the East Bay and Santa Rosa environs, as well as in many San Francisco neighborhoods during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake recovery efforts. Whenever out for a spontaneous "Sunday drive" to explore Bay Area backroads unfamiliar to his family, he would often mention in passing something like, "Oh, there's an underground pipeline test point over near that tree.".
In early 1980, Allan and his family, which now included two daughters, moved to Benicia, CA to a newly constructed home overlooking the Carquinez Straits. Allan was an animal lover who kept doves and rabbits, and he both introduced and greatly enjoyed three successive Schipperke canine family members. He was also continuously engaged in all his family's myriad interests such as music, archeology (Egyptian, Mayan, and American Indian), private pilot school, tennis, biology, Latin & Classical Greek, dwarf rabbit husbandry, bird watching, archery, astronomy, and computers (beginning with the Apple II Plus) -- plus the love and care of "Little Mister Aerie", a Meyers parrot now 26 years old. He also enthusiastically supported his wife's college degrees in nursing, even taking chemistry and statistics classes with her and enrolling in history classes during her matriculation in the early 90s at Sonoma State University. Additionally, he and Anita enjoyed square dancing in Benicia, many get-togethers with Anita's family in Vacaville and Reno, and domestic travel. Allan often spontaneously sung or whistled tunes from his past, especially while working on his many house and yard projects. Allan's pride were his two daughters, who learned from him to cherish education, and became PhD-level scientists.
Allan's retirement in 2001 was celebrated, together with his wife, daughters, and elder sister, with a two-week sailing trip around the Hawaiian Islands, as crew aboard the Tallship Californian. In retirement he and his wife enjoyed RV traveling, including with Anita's brothers and their families on rock-hounding trips throughout the West and to Alaska. They also made many other trips either with or to visit friends and family, including traversing the continental U.S. by RV, car, and/or plane innumerable times from California to visit their daughters in Boston and Washington D.C., Anita's uncle on Cape Cod, and Allan's elder sister in Connecticut. In addition, they made road trips to explore Anita's family history and genealogy in the Southern U.S., and they often took daytrips to quilt shows. Allan and his wife also made over a dozen trips to Hawaii, including a four-month long stay while their eldest daughter was at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
Besides traveling, Allan's other passion was U.S. history, and he spent his retirement volunteering for the USS LCS-102 Landing Craft Support Museum at Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo. Similarly, he adored and was devoted to his chocolate Schipperke "Gingerbread Girl", with whom he daily roamed the streets and hillsides of Benicia during the past 15 years. Allan was also a birding enthusiast who volunteered with Audubon's local Western Bluebird nest box program, and who built and maintained a nest box in his backyard from which American Kestrel chicks successfully fledged every year for the past decade.
Allan is survived by his wife Anita Louise Jessop of Benicia, CA; daughters Holly Jessop of Benicia, CA and Lea Jessop of Germantown, MD; siblings Janice Jessop Bratt of Longmont, CO, Trudy Jessop Kanahele of Saratoga Springs, UT, Leland (and Irene) Jessop of Palm Desert, CA, Greg (and JoAnn) Jessop of Palmdale, CA, and Jeff Jessop of Sylmar, CA; numerous loved in-laws, cousins, nieces, nephews, neighbors and friends. Allan was preceded in death by his parents, plus his siblings Alana Jessop and Mark Andersen Jessop.
It was Allan's wish that there be no memorials. He will be remembered as a fiercely independent, yet selfless, sweet, and loving husband and father who was also a hard-working and tireless provider and supporter. His ashes will be interred at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the USS LCS-102 Landing Craft Support Museum (https://www.usslcs102.org) or the Peregrine Fund (https://www.peregrinefund.org).
